Religion & American Law

Penalty Flag Thrown At Bell County's Prayer Before Football Games

The Bell County school administration has recently ended the tradition of having a minister lead prayer before the public high school football games due to an objection from a group that endorses the separation of church and state. This past Friday was the school’s first home game where “People were kind of jolted when we did the National Anthem and then kicked off”, as said by Bell County Superintendent George Thompson. Kentucky, heavily populated with Christians, has been in the active debate over the separation of church and state. The past disputes between Kentucky and the U.S Supreme Court have been heavily concentrated on the idea of strongly advocating the Ten Commandments in public schools.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison Wisconsin, filed the compliant against Bell County. The Foundation represents the views of non-believers and fights against the promotion of religion through government. Annie Gaylor, the co- president of the foundation, received an email on August fifth regarding the details of the prayers lead before the games. The email read, “ All in attendance are asked to bow their heads and the prayers have Christian overtones.” The anonymous writer found this to be a violation of his or her rights. Rebecca Markert, an attorney for the foundation, sent a letter to Thompson that cited federal court rulings against prayer at school functions. Markert said the prayers at the games represent government endorsement of religion, which is unconstitutional. Thompson looked to fight the demand of ending the prayers, but he was advised that the school system would lose if someone sued them over this issue. The school district has decided to end the prayer and looks to replace it with a moment of silence.

However, after the school’s first game without the prayer, people started to react. Reverend Ray Stepp has led the prayer for almost 20 years and would pray for the safety of the players, protection of the U.S troops and prayed for the people to attend church. Like many other people in the area, he was upset to hear that the tradition was being ended. His wife said, “ It’s sad that one person or two can stop this when there are so many of us wanting this.” The Foundation believed that this issue clearly violates the law and the school is endorsing religion. This group continues to tackle complaints around Kentucky that deal with issues regarding prayers at school-sponsored events.

In my opinion, I strongly disagree with the arguments brought about by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. It was too extreme of the Foundation to banish the prayer all together. There are alternatives ways in which the school can adjust the prayer to exclude the “overtones” of Christianity. For example, I believe the Reverend could take out the “go to church” section of his prayer. In my eyes, the rest of the prayer is concentrated on the safety of the players and the U.S. troops, which does not endorse religious beliefs. The “support our troops” slogan has been commercialized in our society in the form of bumper stickers, flags, ribbons, etc. thus lessening any sense of religion overtone to the slogan. In my opinion, the prayer is more about gratitude and compassion toward the players and the U.S troops than about religion.

Overall, this is a timely debate especially since many groups are advocating against the pledge of allegiance being recited at sporting events. There is the debate over the “under God” portion of the pledge, where people believe there are strong Catholic connotations. This case being brought about in Bell County shows that even the simplest traditions can be misinterpreted and result in the loss of the feeling of togetherness within community.

About : Raja CRN

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