September 23, 2017

School Bans Student-Led Prayers at Football Games

Faith and football go hand in hand across the fruited plain — especially in the great state of Alabama.

Faith and football go hand in hand across the fruited plain — especially in the great state of Alabama.

It’s not all that unusual for high school football games to start with a moment of prayer — an invocation.

The game announcer will ask folks to stand to their feet and remove their hats as the marching band belts out the Star-Spangled Banner. Then, he’ll hand the press box microphone to a student who will thank God and ask for His blessings upon the evening’s game.

It’s a longtime tradition — a beloved tradition where folks of all colors and backgrounds unite as one people, in public, before all you-know-what breaks loose on the field.

But that tradition has come to an abrupt end in Lee County, Alabama.

The school district recently announced that student-led prayers will no longer be permitted before high school football games.

“That is a violation of the Constitution,” Supt. James McCoy told me during a telephone interview. “Students and adults are not allowed to pray over the public address system.”

To the best of his knowledge, the superintendent said no one has ever complained about the prayer — until now.

“In our business, it’s not a problem until it becomes an issue,” he said. “I understand the decision. I don’t necessarily agree with it. I am bound to follow the law and uphold what is supposed to be done.”

The public prayer ban was the result of a complaint letter filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a notorious group of atheists, agnostics and free-thinkers based in Wisconsin.

Apparently, a local parent got triggered by the name of Jesus and suffered a raging microaggression.

“It is illegal for a public school to sponsor religious messages at school athletic events,” FFRF’s Christopher Line wrote in a letter to the district.

“Even if student-led, the Court said prayers at a regularly scheduled school-sponsored function conducted on school property would lead an objective observer to perceive it as state endorsement of religion,” Line added.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation said football games must be secular to “protect the freedom of conscience of all students.”

Oh, good grief. It’s a pre-game prayer, not a Sunday morning revival service.

Supt. McCoy said the public prayer will be replaced with a moment of silence.

So what happens if someone in the stadium on Friday night decides to recite The Lord’s Prayer? Will they be kicked off school property? Will they be tossed in jail?

The superintendent said spontaneous recitation of The Lord’s Prayer would be permissible.

“That has not been banned,” he said.

Well, if that’s the case, the student who was previously assigned the prayer should pull out a megaphone and in a very subtle way holler, “Hey y'all, hush up. We’re about to spontaneously recite The Lord’s Prayer.”

And if I know the folks in Alabama, I reckon those godforsaken atheists will be able to hear that prayer all the way back in Wisconsin.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.