There is far too much diversity these days for a coach to railroad through his own personal faith. even if he has every good intention in the world. This is a practice that has been unquestioned in the past because so many shared that faith, but today there is far too much variety to safely, comfortably accomodate all. And the law has protected those who aren't part of that majority. There is still quite a bit of freedom allowed, it seems, in that students themselves can lead prayer.
There are many group execises designed to achieve the same kind of unity and bonding without involving supreme beings and unless you can come up with some compelling result that prayer --and only prayer-- can achieve with a sports team and its training, there is no reason it should be used.
A study by Dr Jason Lee of Troy State University published these conclusions indicating that many coaches are ignorant of the law regarding prayer and sports:
The responding coaches also revealed a general lack of knowledge pertaining to court case precedents and other related legal knowledge dealing specifically with the use of prayer within public school settings in the United States. For the most part, coaches either had no idea, or were at best inaccurate in their responses, pertaining to such issues. Consequently, the lack of instruction and education based on issues of appropriateness and legality of prayer implementation in school athletics was readily noticeable in the responses of the subjects. Even though the respondents repeatedly expressed concern over what practices were allowable or appropriate, the reason or actual origin of the concern was not easily traceable. When questioned about their knowledge, coaches commonly answered in a manner that reflected that they “didn’t know,” or they just knew that they couldn't pray in the class
Re: separation of church and state:
While football parents say they didn't see the harm in the prayer the law is very clear about separation of church and state. East Brunswick administrators constitutionally cannot allow any teacher, coach or school representative to engage in school prayer.
Jo Ann Magistro, East Brunswick School Supt.: "Our students can pray in the locker room. Our students can pray at a pasta dinner but it cannot be initiated, led or participated in by an employee of a public school."
Martin Pachman, School Board Attorney: "Whether you invoke a Jewish prayer, a Christian prayer, a Hindu prayer, a Muslim prayer, it's all prayer and that's where the supreme court has drawn the line.
Some other rulings on this issue:
In 1989, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that pre-game prayers by coaches, officials or students at high school games were unconstitutional.
In deciding Santa Fe v. Doe (2000), the United States Supreme Court laid down its most definitive decision to date, holding that public school districts are not allowed to let public, student-led prayers occur at high school games. The ruling established that such prayers were in fact public prayer and were not properly considered as private speech, due to the fact that even though the prayers were given by an elected student representative, the adult supervised prayer that was administered over the public-address system was fitting the role of public, rather than private speech.
2.3 In addition to Santa Fe v. Doe (2000), various other cases have helped pave the way for the perception of the appropriateness and legality of school prayer and interscholastic athletic prayer. Jager v. Douglas County School District and School Board (1989) was a case which was based on the incidence where a high school band member, Jager, and his father brought a suit against the Douglas County (Georgia, United States) School District and Board of Education in an effort to stop the practice of offering invocations at high school football games. These invocations commonly asked the audience to bow their heads to pray and commonly invoked the name of Jesus Christ. Jager claimed that these practices went against his Native American beliefs, a concern he expressed to the school principal.
2.4 As a result of the ruling, the court found that the school district was in violation of the Establishment Clause. In this case, it was recognized that though pre-game invocations could accomplish admirable goals such as promoting good sportsmanship, it was further pointed out that such actions could also be reached by measures that were not centered on religious references (Jager v. Douglas County School District and School Board, 1989).
2.5 Another landmark US case was Doe v. Duncanville Independent School District (1995), which involved a female student-athlete that felt she suffered repercussions as a result of her refusal to take part in prayer activity. By not participating in such prayer activity, the student claimed to have suffered ramifications such as being questioned about her actions by peers, heckled by spectators, and being called a “little atheist” by a teacher at the school. Doe did not think that the prayers were appropriate and did not choose to participate in that activity, and as a result of these actions and her subsequent feelings of ridicule, the issue at hand was to be decided by the courts. The court ruled that the school district could not restrict players from participating in student-led, student-organized voluntary prayers (Berry, 2000).
2.6 Other important cases that have impacted upon the current standard in the US have been Lee v. Weisman (1992), Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971), Board of Education of Westside Community Schools v. Mergens (1990), Jones v. Clear Creek (1992) and ACLU of New Jersey, et al. v. Black Horse Pike Regional Board of Education, et al. (1996). Though these are not the only cases that have had a bearing on the current status of the place of prayer within the context of school activities and within the context of school sport activities, they have displayed a powerful impact on the current status of this heavily debated matter throughout the United States.
2.7 In the United States, a variety of school districts have attempted to maneuver around decisions that have been issued through the courts such as in the Santa Fe, Jager and Duncanville decisions. As Colloff (2000) stated, in Southern United States, where pre-game invocations have often been steeped in tradition, there has been a movement towards implementing prayer at football games in the stands at games despite policies and court decisions. Examples of such activity in the United States, include fans listening to prayers over the radio (which have been brought into the stadium by spectators) in the state of North Carolina, fans emptying the bleachers to take part in an prayer session on the fifty-yard line in the state of Arkansas, or people forming a human prayer chain on a track surrounding a football field in the state of Tennessee (Roche, 2000). |
