Football Team Under Fire for Reciting 'Lord's Prayer'
The atheist group demanded that Robertson County Schools "immediately stop proselytizing and leading football players in prayer."
[ToddStarnes.com] The Freedom From Religion Foundation is once again rattling the gates of a Tennessee public school—this time demanding that football coaches stop praying with their players. (Screengrab image: via YouTube-Hanson Sports)
The Wisconsin-based atheist organization sent a Sept. 2 complaint to attorneys for Robertson County Schools accusing coaches at White House Heritage High School and Middle School of unconstitutional religious activity.
According to the letter, an unidentified parent told FFRF that coaches pray with players after practices and before and after games, including reciting the Lord's Prayer. The organization also alleges that one of the high school coaches brings Christian speakers to team events and that coaches encourage players to attend Fellowship of Christian Athletes meetings.
FFRF says the parent reported that "some students fear being penalized for not reciting the Lord's Prayer." The allegation has not been independently verified:
"Here, the football coaches seem to have crossed the constitutional line by leading students in the Lord's Prayer while acting in their official capacities as school employees, bringing in outside adults to proselytize players, and promoting attendance at a Christian club. Student-athletes are especially susceptible to coercion, and the relationship between student-athletes and their coaches is inherently coercive. Students know that their coaches control their positions on the team, including who plays in each game."
The atheist group demanded that Robertson County Schools "immediately stop proselytizing and leading football players in prayer."
FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor went even further, declaring there should be no "'pray to play' practices" in public-school athletics.
"Public school coaches have enormous authority over their players, and they cannot use that authority to pressure students to pray or attend religious athletic clubs," Gaylor said. "There should be no 'pray to play' practices or other overstepping of the professional boundary between coaches and vulnerable public school students. Robertson County Schools must ensure that participation in athletics does not come with a religious test."
For the record, the complaint is just that—a complaint, not a court ruling.
FFRF acknowledges the Supreme Court's 2022 Kennedy v. Bremerton decision protected a public-school football coach's private postgame prayer, but argues the Robertson County allegations are different because coaches allegedly lead students in prayer while acting as school employees.
The out-of-town atheists would rather players listen to profanity-laced rap music than "The Lord's Prayer." Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here
