Contact: Liberty Counsel Public Relations Department, 800-671-1776

LYNCHBURG, VA, Sept. 23 /Christian Newswire/ -- Today millions of students are celebrating the twentieth annual "See You at the Pole" ("SYATP") event, where students gather to pray for their school, their community and America. This year the largest gathering of students for this annual event will be at Liberty University, the world's largest and fastest-growing evangelical university, with 11,940 students on campus and an anticipated 47,000 students off campus during the 2009-2010 academic year.

These students are gathering at a time of increasing hostility in our courts towards prayer. A case in point involves Santa Rosa County in Florida, where Liberty Counsel successfully defended two honorable school employees on National Constitution Day against a charge of criminal contempt for praying over a meal. As a student-initiated movement, this prayer movement has the protection of the First Amendment.

Church congregations nationwide showed their support last Sunday for "See You at the Pole" by sponsoring a special "Campus Challenge Sunday" to encourage and support their student members for "See You at the Pole." Participants prayed for students and educators in their congregations.

The "See You at the Pole" event began near Ft. Worth in the town of Burleson, Texas, in 1990. SYATP invites students in public and private schools to gather together at their school's flagpole to pray for their leaders, schools, and families, asking God to bring moral and spiritual awakening to their campuses and to America.

Mathew Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented on the students' right to pray: "Revival preceded the American Revolution. Political freedom is founded upon religious freedom. There is a growing spiritual renewal occurring in America. America was birthed in prayer. America will be sustained in prayer."