Written by Don Byrd
Fall is almost here, and you know what that means: high school football season is upon us. Hot dogs grilling at the concession stand, marching bands playing the fight song, shoulder pads colliding, and cheerleaders urging on the crowd to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Wait, what?
Cheerleaders at Texas’ Kountze High School are once again preparing to show their school spirit in Scripture, with banners that feature Bible verses for the players to run through. The school district got over its initial misgivings about the signs and allowed the practice to continue, and a district judge ruled the messages are constitutional. For reasons that are not entirely clear, however, the school district has appealed that decision, despite apparently agreeing with its outcome.
Today, a coalition of religious liberty advocates including the ACLU, Interfaith Alliance, Anti-Defamation League and others filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, arguing the banners should be declared unconstitutional endorsements of religion by the school. Here is a snippet:
While all students have the right to practice their faith privately in the public school setting, this type of official religious promotion alienates and excludes students of minority faiths and nonbelievers and sparks religious tensions and divisiveness within school districts. Amici urge this court to ensure that these harms do not come to fruition by holding that the run-through banners are sponsored by the District and that the District’s use of this official platform to promote Bible verses or other religious messages to students during football games contravenes the Establishment Clause.
The brief later asks the court to consider the indignity that would be suffered by a Muslim cheerleader who was forced to choose between creating a Christian message and being ostracized from the squad. And then this:
Or imagine a Jewish football player, who must break through a banner that proclaims “But thanks be to God, which gives victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” He must take the field knowing that school officials have approved this message, which implies that the team cannot achieve victory unless its players are Christian and that, as a Jew, he is a liability to the team.
Shouldn’t public school events be designed for all students? You can read the brief here.
