An Iowa high school has ordered football coaches to stop praying with players.
Coaches at Aplington-Parkersburg High School were photographed praying with the varsity football team on the field after a recent game. The photo was then posted on Facebook which led to a complaint from a citizen.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, an anti-Christian atheist group based in Wisconsin, accused the coaches of violating federal law. Yes, good readers, the atheists believe it’s a federal crime for a coach to pray with a student athlete.
“Government actors, like [the coach], may not lead prayer over a captive audience,” FFRF’s Hirsh M. Joshi wrote to the district.
The out-of-town atheists accused coaches of coercing the football players into praying to Almighty God.
Public school students have a constitutional right to be free from religious indoctrination in their public schools, including attending school-sponsored events and participating in their school’s athletics program. And student athletes are especially susceptible to coercion. When their school’s athletic program compels them to participate in prayer, student athletes undoubtedly feel that participation is essential to pleasing their team’s coach. Prayer at student athletic events places athletes in a dilemma: They must either worship — against their conscience — or openly dissent, risking their standing on the team. That ultimatum is exactly what the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment guards against.
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Instead of telling the atheist predators to pound sand, the school district ordered the coaches to cease and desist their prayers.
“Effective immediately, Aplington-Parkersburg football coaches will not lead or ask student athletes to participate in team prayer,” Superintendent Travis Fleshner wrote in a letter to the atheists. “If team prayer occurs, it will be entirely student-led, with no participation or promotion by coaches, and coaches will not encourage or invite athletes to attend any religious events.”
FFRF is determined to ensure that students will remain free from religious indoctrination in public schools.
“Student athletes need to be aware that they never need to pray to play,” said FFRF’s Annie Laurie Gaylor. “School districts have a constitutional obligation to remain secular in all of their programming, including after the conclusion of a football game.”
The Supreme Court ruled that coaches have a right to pray at football games in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. The atheists contend the Supreme Court ruling only applies to the private prayers of coaches.
There’s an old gospel song that illustrates the bonds between Christianity and football – “Dropkick Me Jesus Through the Goalposts of Life.” Maybe they should dropkick the atheists, instead?
