The Trials and Tribulations of Hashmel Turner
An unassuming small-town preacher and his unconventional Christian lawyer are trying to win the right to pray to Jesus at city council meetings
By Michelle Boorstein
Sunday, December 9, 2007

LORD JESUS, THIS IS ALL FOR YOU, THE REV. HASHMEL TURNER THOUGHT as he walked through the swinging glass doors into Fredericksburg's City Hall. Waiting there was a small gaggle of Washington television reporters who rushed over to Turner the moment he walked in. Turner froze.

Councilman Turner, demanded one with a microphone, are you going to pray tonight? What kind of prayer will you give?

Typically, the reserved Baptist minister speaks slowly, in a rich, low tone. This time, his words came faster. "I'm standing firm in my faith," he told them. There would be no compromise. Jesus was being systematically erased from America's public places, and what was Turner worth if he didn't fight it, no matter the cost? the rest