A Georgia town packed the school board meeting room to protest the decision to ban the high school's cheerleaders from holding religious signs for the football team to run through at the start of each game. The Board, however, accepted the smart advice of its lawyer:
Renzo Wiggins, attorney for Catoosa County Public Schools, told spectators the tradition of having football players at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School burst onto the field through paper signs displaying Bible verses violated the First Amendment's ban on government endorsement of religion.
"Virtually all of the cases rule that that has the imprimatur of a stamp of approval by the state," Wiggins said in a video posted online by the Chattanooga Free Press. "Therefore it is prohibited under the [Constitution's] Establishment Clause."
This protection by the Board makes perfect sense and is not only within their discretion, but likely required by the First Amendment. Sadly, though, now the school district must wait to see if it will be sued from the other side – the cheerleaders – for banning their signs. Sigh.
