A prayer movement is hitting high school gridirons this
fall as Christians in numerous states are joining in a recitation of the
Lords Prayer immediately following the playing of the National Anthem.
The result is igniting a church-state firestorm.
A prayer movement is hitting high school gridirons this
fall as Christians in numerous states are joining in a recitation of the
Lords Prayer immediately following the playing of the National Anthem.
The result is igniting a church-state firestorm.
The movement is in response to a June ruling by the United
States Supreme Court that ruled school-sponsored prayer before high school games
were unconstitutional.
Now, the American Civil Liberties Union is sniffing around
the prayer movement for any involvement by school officials, which would run
counter to the courts ruling.
In turn, the American Center for Law and Justice led by evangelical
Jay Sekulow is committing itself to defend any school district that is sued
for permitting spontaneous prayer at high school football games.
The prayer movement has been promoted by various groups and
individuals, including the National Day of Prayer Task Force. Others have opposed
the idea, including syndicated columnist Cal Thomas.
The Supreme Court ruling this year “should awaken us to
the reality of how we are losing our right to exercise our freedom of religion,”
says Jim Weidmann, vice chair of the National Day of Prayer Task Force. “The
First Amendment of the Constitution clearly states, Congress shall make
no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof. … Those who attend and participate in saying the Lords
Prayer at the game simply wish to utilize that freedom while they still have
it.”
And they are utilizing it, with reports of spontaneous group
prayers in numerous states, including Louisiana. (See related letter on Page
Two)
For instance, at a game in Hattiesburg, Miss., a few students
began by holding hands in the bleachers and praying, “Our Father who art
in heaven.” By the time they got to “deliver us from evil,” most
of the crowd of 4,500 was standing, reciting the Lords Prayer.
Meanwhile, in Forest City, N.C., a radio station allowed a
pastor to say a prayer at the beginning of high school football broadcasts and
urged fans at the game to turn up their portable radios during the prayer.
Many religious leaders insist such efforts do not violate the
Supreme Court decision on the matter.
Sekulow agreed. “Even with the recent decision by the
U.S. Supreme Court regarding school prayer, there should be no confusion that
spontaneous prayer at high school football games is both legal and constitutional,”
he said.
“It is clear that private student prayer before sporting
events is permissible provided that the prayer is not sponsored or endorsed
by the school and does not utilize the schools public address system.
As students and members of the community are permitted to stand up and cheer
for their team, they are also permitted to stand up and recite a religious statement,
including a prayer.”
If a school district attempts to prohibit these prayers, that
could represent a violation of the constitutional rights of those in attendance,
Sekulow said. “And that may very well trigger legal action against the
school district,” he noted.
The American Center for Law and Justice has sent a letter outlining
the legalities of religious expression in the public schools in light of the
June court decision to more than 15,000 public school districts across the country.
(The letter is available via the Internet at www.aclj.org.)
Meanwhile, American Civil Liberties Union Legal Director Steven
Shapiro acknowledged he is “not sure what to make of” the prayer movement.
“Its a complicated legal question, but one of the things we have
learned over the years is that school officials are rarely uninvolved at their
own events, rarely passive observers,” Shapiro said. “School officials
dont like to relinquish control.”
Union official David Ingebretsen added: “It seems to me
that a planned spontaneous prayer cannot be spontaneous and it violates the
courts ruling. If this is planned, spontaneous prayer happens, it forces
everyone there to hear that prayer or to participate in it.”
In addition to the spontaneous prayer movement, some schools
reportedly are ignoring the Supreme Court decision and allowing students to
lead in prayers before games. At one school, a public address system was set
up on private property adjacent to the football stadium – and a student
voiced a prayer from that site prior to the game.
Such efforts trivialize prayer, insisted Cal Thomas, an evangelical
Christian. “To whom are these football fans and students praying? For what
purpose?” Thomas asked in a recent column. “More importantly, if their
first priority is to always be a good witness before people who
do not share their faith in order that the observers might consider that faith,
what damage is caused by forcing people to listen to a prayer of a type they
do not say which is directed to a God in whom they may not believe? …
“How would Christians like it if they lived in a community
where their faith was the minority one and they were forced to sit through a
prayer offered to a different god? How comfortable would they be if the supplicant
requested the destruction of all infidels who do not worship in
the same manner as the person praying?”
Thomas suggested that some people have an inferiority complex
about their faith so that they need to see it trumpeted to the world.
“It is an in-your-face faith rather than an in-your-heart
variety,” he said. “It smacks of triumphalism that is foreign to its
founder. It was Jesus, after all, who frequently separated himself from the
crowds in order to pray in private. He instructed his followers, not only in
deed but in word: And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for
they love to pray standing in the synagogues (football stadiums?) and on the
street corners to be seen by men. … But when you pray, go into your room,
close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who
sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Thomas concluded his column by saying, “Instead of trying
to devise prayers that will be approved by the Supreme Court, prayers that are
bound to be empty of content and meaningless, prayer activists should
be concerned with prayers that fulfill the instructions of Jesus of Nazareth
and reach the ears – and earn the approval – not of the Supreme Court
but of the Supreme Judge.”
The New York Times also criticized the prayer movement in an
August 29 editorial, urging mainstream religious leaders to speak out against
a strategy that imposes religious observance on a captive school audience.
However, many religious leaders are taking an opposite approach.
One is Charles Burchett, pastor at First Baptist Church, Kirbyville, Texas.
Burchett reported he has enlisted 15 local pastors from a number of denominations
to form prayer groups at the high school football stadium around the public-access
area behind the stands.
The enlisted pastors have instructed members of their congregation
to go to an assigned area when volunteer firemen outside school property blow
a horn. Once gathered, the groups will spend two minutes in prayer for the school
principal, coaches, teachers and players. The fire horn will toot again, and
everyone in each of the 15 groups will say the Lords Prayer in unison.
Burchett said he went to great lengths to make sure no school
administrators would be put in an awkward position because of the plan. He urged
others to do the same.
“(This way, Christians) will be obeying instead of violating
the law,” Burchett said. “We will be professing our faith in Jesus
instead of protesting decisions of God-established authorities. From our hearts
and our mouths we will be blessing instead of cursing.” (BP)