There’s big trouble at Boise State University. Head football coach Spencer Danielson has drawn fire because he mentions the name of Jesus Christ in public appearances.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation accused the coach of placing a Christian litmus test on students. They say that’s illegal. They got riled up because the coach says his football team is going to give Jesus the glory.
Coach Danielson is an outspoken follower of Jesus Christ and he frequently mentions Christianity during public interviews. He drew fire from the Wisconsin-based atheist group when he told reporters that his football program will give “glory to Jesus” and be a “light on a hill.”
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“Further, Coach Danielson said that any prospective students who are not alright with the football program
glorifying Jesus Christ should not come to Boise State University or join its football program,” FFRF said in a statement.
An aggrieved employee ratted out the coach and the FFRF is now calling for an investigation into the coach’s behavior.
“The coach is not only placing a Christian litmus test on potential and current student players, which is illegal, but is overtly saying nonreligious or non-Christian students are not welcome at this public university,” said FFRF co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor in a written statement. “University officials need to rein him in immediately before he does any more damage.”
Boise Rabbi Dan Fink penned a letter to the Idaho Statesman complaining about Christian nationalism and anti-Semitism. As if a Christian coach praying in the name of Jesus Christ is somehow an anti-Semitic slur?
“How do non-Christian Broncos experience being essentially excluded from an activity that is so clearly prized — and led — by their head coach? I can guess the answer to this question because many years ago, when I played high school football, my own coach frequently led the team in Christian prayer,” the rabbi wrote. “What he prayed for — integrity, sportsmanship and freedom from injury — was universal enough, appealing to people of all faiths and of none. But when he inevitably concluded, “We ask this in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ,” my heart always sank, because I knew that this “we” did not include me.”
There’s a very reasonable solution to the complaints from the rabbi and the atheists: find a head coach who is Jewish or atheist.
But they might be hard-pressed because everybody knows the best football coaches in America are God-fearing patriots who know all the words to that great gospel song, “Dropkick me Jesus Through the Goalposts of Life.”