Faith Meets Football and a Dispute Ensues in East Texas
KOUNTZE, Texas — There is a new angle to the usual hometown high school football pride on display in the store windows and marquees of this East Texas town.
Supporters still urge their Lions on to victory. But there are also messages of support for the cheerleaders in particular and the Christian faith in general — and occasionally, of scorn for the Kountze school district, which ordered the girls to stop holding banners bearing Bible verses during athletic events last month.
For the moment, the rule is on hold. At the start of a recent home football game, the team charged onto ...
Comments (8)
Alice Taylor
It's a sticky issue with two sides. From my Jewish and public school teacher point of view, if the cheerleaders are making the signs on their own time, using their own materials and displaying them off school grounds and not in cheerleading uniforms, then they're doing it on their own and the school has nothing to do with it. Belonging to or working for a governmental entity doesn't mean you give up your personal free speech.
That's my personal view, but there is plenty of precedent for the other side.
The sticky issue part is that there have been many precedents where one does give up free speech even in private life if you work for the government or represent it. For instance, a teacher's Facebook postings can be used against them if the district doesn't like what is said and in every Texas teacher's contract is a "morals" clause that means you can lose your job if you aren't "a good role model for children". That's a pretty broad statement. A high school football player that is arrested for public intoxication can be kicked off the team, even though that didn't happen anywhere near a public school or on school time. We have a long history of holding students and teachers accountable for what they do while not on school time or school grounds because they are considered representatives of a government entity 24/7.
As a member of a minority religion while living smack in the middle of Bible-belt Texas, I often see overt instances where the majority religion is promoted in the public school setting. Most of the time I don't think the Christians even notice because it's so natural to them the promotion of Jesus has become white noise to them. As the young man said in the article “This is a Christian town, mostly." What he doesn't get is that the "mostly" means that there are secular and non-Christians who aren't interested in the cheerleader's message and don't want it shoved in their faces. "Mostly" is the reason we have a Freedom of Religion clause in the Constitution. It's the "not-mostly" part of the population that needs protection from government sanctioned religion. For me, being off campus while waving their signs is enough and I don't think of them as representing the school when they're doing that and so they are exercising their free speech and that's fine.
If they were on campus that would be a different issue. I was recently at a dedication ceremony and a preacher from a local church was invited to give an invocation. He made no bones that he was dedicating that public facility to his personal Baptist Lord and Savior and if you were Catholic, Mormon, Shinto, Jewish, Hindu or Muslim, the prayer/invocation was not inclusive at all. I thought that was inappropriate for a government building, but I really don't think that 1) the local school board and admin even heard it and 2) they didn't know it was coming since I'm sure they didn't ask for a script of what the preacher was going to say ahead of time.
So as a member of a group that isn't part of the "mostly" religion I think it's important that we don't have religion on government property that ALL of us pay for, no matter what our religion is or is not. But that doesn't mean we give up our religion or our Freedom of Speech by working for the government, either.
David Spratt
All the more reason to abolish public education and get government control out of it.
Your religious views or beliefs are not something you put on in the morning and take off at night.
hey define who we are , how we behave and what we believe in. If these beliefs can be curtailed in one aspect of your life during certain hours of the day or during your participation in certain activities ,, then that has the potential for expansion especially since government is taking more control of our everyday lives.
Wherever government money reaches that can be considered a part of government.
These freedom from religion people are everywhere removing crosses and curtailing religious expression using the very laws that protect religious expression . Make no mistake about it they are not simply " Concerned " for our Constitutional rights. They are out to destroy religion in general.
They do not attack other religions other than Christianity for the very reason that Christians make up the majority in this country. They do not have to attack any other religion. If they can beat down the majority then they have defeated the minority as well.
Just because there is this mythical separation of church and state ,, does anyone believe any responsible representative who holds a religious belief can separate their personal beliefs from their legislative decisions? Our founders never intended this to be the case and clearly ones personal and religious views will and should provide guidance when making critical decisions concerning the governance of the people who elected them.
If they were to be truly separate then only atheists would be fit to serve in governmental positions.
There is no overt action ever taken by the government to make membership in any particular religion compulsory. The recognition that a religion exists does not constitute an endorsement of that religion.
Perhaps the tax exempt status for religions should be repealed? This would seem to be an endorsement
by the IRS.
All the more reason this election is important. The next President will appoint several more Justices to SCOTUS . Do we want Constitutional Conservatives , Liberal Progressives, or even Atheists?
Common Sense
The Constitution protects our freedom "OF" religion.
Freedom "FROM" religion is not mentioned at all.
This means the government MUST NOT INTERFERE with non-violent religious matters.
As long as no one is physically or mentally injured, there is no excuse for governmental invasions. Hearing a prayer or seeing a Bible verse written somewhere does NOT constitute an injury of any sort.
These students are acting within their rights and people of all religions should support and protect them.
Are we to stand silently while the US is added to the list of places Christians are openly persecuted.
Samdavis
The fundamentalists pushing this issue are NOT Christians, and yes, they deserve to be persecuted. All this hand-wringing could have been avoided had the signs been kept in the stands or off school property. This is a no-brainier on Constitutional issues, the Governor and Attorney General are siding in out of political expedience, or in Perry's case, pure ignorance. If you don't think this is about promoting Christianity (or at least what passes for Christianity in East Texas), look at the statement from one of the mothers, “And it’s encouraging kids who don’t go to church, to go to church.”
In the end this case will leave the jurisdiction of a local judge and the banners will be banned as they should be. The school will pay a fortune in legal fees, Jerry Falwell's Liberty Institute can use the publicity to raise more money from suckers, the locals can feel vindicated because they were persecuted for their beliefs, and the school can go back to turning out semi-educated students. That's what places like Kountze, where fundamentalist Christianity reigns, do best
BiffTannen
Shouldn't Christians themselves be more up in arms about this? When the players run through the banner and rip them up, aren't they destroying the word of God?
janey sills
what about "separation of church and state" is so difficult to understand? not everyone is a christian, and not everyone wants their children to be indoctrinated by relgious teachings. by wearing a school uniform at a football game, you are representing an extension of the government.
Dave S
The quotes included in the article go a long way toward proving how wrong these signs are and how ignorant the backers of them seem to be. Tiffany Clemons says "it’s encouraging kids who don’t go to church, to go to church.” So the school organization is encouraging attending church!
Cody Merchant says "This is a Christian town, mostly." So he doesn't care about those who aren't?
C. RICHARDSON
This country was founded on the freedom of religon. We were founded on GOD first. We are very lucky to have the religious freedoms we have. We do not live where if you pray or read your BIBLE in public:you are exicuted for it. Nor are we thrown in prison. We are CHRISTAINS and we stand with these kids. Stand your ground for GOD and HE WILL STAND WITH YOU. We will keep you in our prayers. MAY GOD PREVAIL.