Football Prayers Banned at Christian School

At football games in public schools, the public address system cannot be used to deliver prayers or other religious messages - if that happens, it gives the impression that the government endorses such messages. At football games in private religious schools, prayers are OK - after all, the government isn't involved. But what happens when a public school team plays a private school team at the private school? That's tough.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports on such a situation where the private school was told that, at such games, they couldn't deliver prayers:

Headmaster Matt Skinner was riled by a letter that had just been handed to him from the Georgia High School Association, advising him not to pray over the public address system, "to avoid the appearance that the GHSA is endorsing a religion." The GHSA owns rights to playoff games; local schools handle regular-season games. Continuing such public prayers, the GHSA said, could cause Landmark to lose chances to host playoff games. And that could mean thousands of dollars in revenue and the incalculable home-field advantage.

In the middle of the issue is GHSA executive director Ralph Swearngin, who for 25 years was involved in athletics and teaching at Christian schools. Banning prayer at playoff games "is a professional decision against my core beliefs," he said. "My background is personally very favorable to religious expression, but even then I have some questions," he said. "Do we need to flaunt the law, or exercise whatever we can do behind the scenes to get legislation looked at differently?

On Nov. 8, the War Eagles volleyball team followed their custom of inviting their opponents from Decatur to join them in prayer after the game. Two parents of Decatur players, a United Methodist and a Catholic, said "no" to their children on the court because they didn't want them to feel pressured to pray. Some Decatur players who are not Christian, and a Muslim assistant coach, might also feel awkward, the parents said.

Decatur volleyball coach Jon Reese described the complaint to the GHSA as "putting words down that have been communicated for years around here." He has amicably coached against Landmark for 11 years. "Even me being a preacher's kid, the Landmark team's prayer was an uncomfortable place to be," Reese said. "I always walk away, and I feel awkward myself, like in a weird way I'm refuting religion."

I've quoted a lot here because this is a complex issue and there is a lot that needs to be addressed. One of the important things to get out of this report is the fact that we do not have a situation where a secular group like the ACLU or a bunch of atheists are suing a Christian school. On the contrary, the people who are being made uncomfortable are religious theists - including Christians. This is, in fact, very often the case in situations like this, but it is also a fact that the Religious Right tries to cover up when complaining about the enforcement of the separation of church and state. They always want to portray these conflicts as being between secularists and atheists against God-fearing Christians. The idea that these conflicts pit Christians against Christians simply doesn't fit in with their Manichean worldview.

Personally, I'm not quite sure where I stand on this issue. I quite understand why the religious school would want to continue with prayers because it is, after all, their school and their field. However, if their behavior is making others feel uncomfortable in the context of a match that is set up by the government and involving a public school, then it would seem appropriate to insist that the prayers not be said.

Fortunately, there are alternatives - for example, why not have those who favor the prayers simply arrive early for some sort of invocation? If it's well before the match, it's no longer a problematic context, right? Do they really need to have the prayer right before the game? Why not a rally the night before, something with a very strong religious theme and all the prayers they want? I'm not aware of any Biblical mandate for prayers immediately before a football game, so aside from tradition there doesn't seem to be any need to do it that way unless they want to ensure that the prayers are heard by the opposing team - even if it makes them feel uncomfortable. That's not right.

Read More:

• Secularism 101
• Separation of Church and State 101
• Religion in Public Schools
• School Prayer