C.J. Helweg

Prof. Robbins

English 1310

October 29, 2007

Word Count: 774

Restriction of Freedom or Freedom of Restriction?

It is Friday night, and a small town’s entire population has made their way to the football stadium. The teams run on to the field, the bands play, and everyone in the stadium stands. A lone student is at the microphone of the Public Address system. “Let us pray…” he starts. In Texas on a Friday night, it is not uncommon to hear a student delivered prayer before football games. Texas high school football followers often see the sport as some sort of religion. What was at one time accepted by the majority of the spectators and participants has gotten more and more criticism. People have different opinions, athletes have different ways of bringing religion to sports, and a few court cases have ever come from this topic.

Football spectators that I have had conversations with said they don’t like the prayer idea before games because it implies that everyone is a Christian and that’s the way that everyone should behave. These people don’t like the single religion aspect that seems to come from these prayers. They would feel more comfortable with a moment of silence or no prayer at all. But I have also conversed with people who embrace and support the prayers. The reasoning that I have heard for this mindset is the fact that it is not forced, and the prayer is just a simple one that asks that no person get hurt in the upcoming athletic contest. They are not meant to be derogatory or discriminative in any way. As Mark Shaw, a trustee on the Santa Fe school board, said, "Football games are ... attended on a voluntary basis, so if you don't like the prayer, come later." On the other side of the debate, Dena Marks, of the Anti-Defamation League, said, "It could be that there are certain people who don't believe the same way the person who says the prayer believes, and because of that, by definition, [saying a prayer] excludes those people" (Prayer). Incidents like this one are a sign that people are changing their views about religious tolerance at sporting events.

People have taken school districts to court because of prayer before a football game. "In 1963, the case of Engle v. Vitale , the Supreme Court ruled against mandated school prayer in the classroom." By extension, this ruling also applied to school events such as football games. "In 1989, the case of Jager v. Douglas County School District , the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that pre-game invocations by coaches, officials or students at high school football games were unconstitutional." In 1995, Doe v. Duncanville School District , The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th circuit found that informal student-initiated, student led prayers at sporting events were constitutional. They found that students "are not enjoined from praying, either individually or in groups. Students may voluntarily pray together, provided such prayer is not done with school participation or supervision. ” (Robinson). This means that students are allowed to pray, only on their own time and not using anything that has to do with their school. In 2000, the Santa Felead school district was brought to court. The charge was allowing a student , student initiated prayer before a football game. The prayer was allotted by the school district and therefore deemed unconstitutional (Robinson).

But what do athletes do in this situation? I have seen prayer in locker rooms, in pre game warm ups, during the huddle, and after touchdowns are made. Locker rooms are often a main place for prayer. Team prayers occur before every game asking for protection, the will to win, and the discipline to be sportsmanlike. These are often lead by both athletes and coaches. A majority of athletic spectators find little harm in this, but there are a few people who disagree with this pre game prayer. They feel that a coach should not be encouraging or participating in prayers. The thought is that all prayer should be student lead and spontaneous without any connection to the school. Even if prayer is barred from football games, the players will continue to pray.

The controversy of prayer before school events is not near to being over. As long as there is

football, there will be prayer before games. Not every person is happy about this, and I cannot see

any time in the near future where every spectator and athlete will be satisfied. It is an ongoing

debate that will continue to be argued over and over by everyone that attends sporting events.

Prayers will continue to be read, and players will continue to pray no matter what happens on the

political side of the battle.

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