In Bogue Chitto, Mississippi, some football players want to have a “unplanned spontaneous” prayer before the game.
The ACLU says if its planned, it isn’t spontaneous and is illegal.
A talk show host named Paul Ott is trying to get a whole thing going down south where you Can pray outloud in the stadium, etc.
How come we never hear of prayers being advocated in NYC or a big city, but some southern ones?
And why is it called the Bible Belt anyway?
Leave it to football players to schedule unplanned spontaneous prayers…
And as for those southerners and their endless knack for getting under the skins of us norther, cosmopolitan, NYC type folk. I think we ought to march down there again and string up those bastards by their bible belts one last time!
Now, what I really wanna see is some “unplanned, spontaneous prayer” breaking out to Thank God we just lost the Big Game. That would certainly be novel.
I must concur. This “planned spontenaity” thing seems a bit like… Oh, I dunno… Bullshit?
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Satan
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Satan and other former LBMB regs might remember the JesusSpam that was going around encouraging all the good Christians in the stands at ball games to stand up at a pre-determined point and loudly recite the Lord’s Prayer.
I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
Dr. J
I cover the county school board for the newspaper. In early July, the newly elected board members staged a coup and nominated the most radical member as president. Mind you, this man had motioned for prayer in the eight schools last summer but was voted down each time. (Getting to the point) So this guy becomes president and he decides to open each board meeting with a prayer which raises the ire of several non-Protestant, non-Christian, Buddhists, and Muslims in our area. The protesters constitute a small minority, but keep in mind they elected these people.
So anyway, legal counsel is brought in to give advice concerning the issue. The attorney states in an open meeting, “This is an envelope that doesn’t need to be pushed. If you decide to hold prayer before your meetings, held in a county-owned office, you’re setting yourselves and the county up for a lawsuit.” He then goes on to cite different rulings and cases all the way up to the Supreme Court.
After a very long and distended discussion, the board approves the move to open with prayer by a vote of 3-2.
What a bunch of incompetents.
Oh, and BTW, the county in question is six miles south of the Mason-Dixon.
I feel the “non-Protestant, non-Christian, Buddhists, and Muslims,” may be taken as a slur. I do not mean it as such. What I should have written was: people of different faiths, not necessarily Protestant.
Geesh, it’s late. I need sleep.
I haven’t done any research, but from what I know or religious laws, it’s not illegal for football players just to pray before a game.
IIRC, it would only be illegal if they forced (or even suggested) other people to do it, or if the coach wouldn’t let people on the team if they did/did not pray.
Bottom line:
prayer in school = technically legal, I think.
TEACHING/FORCING prayer in school = illegal
Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.
I play football for my school, adn before and/or after every game there’s a coach led prayer. completely voluntary, but i ahve a feeling if i wasn’t a key player i’d be screwed if i didn’t join in. and what do you think my chances for playing would be if i pitched a hissy fit about the whole thing. i just take it out on the other team’s line 
chris
As I have said many times, it is called that because those are the two most common items people here use to abuse their children.
Beth, hush.
Vanilla, it’s called the Bible Belt mostly because it’s a swath of fundamental Christianity. You’re more likely to encounter fundamentalists and things like “Car Wash and Prayer” or “Christian Auto Center” in that region of the states. So, Bible because it’s very Christian, Belt because it’s a swath with pretty definite boundaries (The M-D line to the North and the Gulf of Mexico to the South).
Planned, unplanned, prepared, spontaneous prayer?
Got to agree with Chris here. I played football for three years, soccer for one, track for one, baseball three, squash and basketball one each, and was in two musicals. Before every performance or game we’d pray. I do think it made some students uncomfortable and if we had walked out of it there would have been trouble.
HOWEVER. This was a boarding school run by Benedictine monks, and as such we basically could say “if you don’t like the prayer, take it up with the Abbot.” Some people did, and they were basically told “if you don’t like it, go to another school.”
There is a certain amount of team unity/pride that goes into doing things (like praying) together. There’s also the feeling of “Well, I am Jewish. Rob over there is Muslim and Todd is Wiccan. Shouldn’t we be praying to their God, gods, whatever, as well?”
SO, MO on praying in public schools: A. if you’re going to do it, expect a lot of people to protest. B. not everyone is the religion of the prayer. C. This is technically a free country so we can do what we want. D. Separation of Church and state means that making prayer required is illegal, last I checked.
Why not just have a movie day or a campout or something?
Oooh . . . here’s a fun tidbit for some of you: what do you think would happen if someone was hired as coach of a team and decided to lead his/her team in a form of prayer other than Catholic/Christian? I’m thinking there’d be significantly more of an outpouring of “That’s illegal!” than there is now with coaches who lead in prayers such as The Lord’s Prayer.
Thoughts?
You’re dealing with some very entrenched mores here.
It comes with the region. In this case the mores are religious ones and are therefore very touchy. What you find uncomfortable the folks down there are quite proud of.
It seems like every place from Sheveport to Nashville has a vocal group that loudly proclaims it to be “The Buckle on the Bible Belt.” (has a theater in Shreveport ever shown “The Life of Brian” yet?)
This state of affairs is not unique to the South. If you weren’t a Puritan in early Massachusetts you’d have been very uncomfortable there. Roger Williams was uncomfortable enough to found Rhode Island.
Posters who are debating whether the prayer is spontaneous are missing the point. Whether the prayer is spontaneous or planned, it does not violate the Constitution unless it is school-sponsored. (And incidentally, I thing the prayers led by coaches at public schools cross this line. Private schools can do anything they like.)
There was a lengthy article in the Atlanta Constitution today regarding this whole phenomenon. Apparently, these student-led pre-game prayers are springing up all over the Southeast. At a game in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, a group of students in one section of the bleachers began reciting the Lord’s Prayer (“Our Father” to our Catholic friends). By the time they finished, 4,500 or so in the stands had joined in.
All perfectly Constitutional, so long as the school isn’t sponsoring or encouraging the prayer.
Here’s the Atlanta Constitution article, if the link works.
It’s interesting that some are referring to these pre-game prayers as acts of “civil disobedience.” Those involved aren’t “disobeying” anything, so long as the prayers aren’t school-sponsored, and prayers aren’t being led over the intercom.
One radio station had an interesting idea to get around the injunction against “state-sponsored” prayer. It broadcast a prayer on its station timed to follow the national anthem, and encouraged all those in the audience to crank up their radios at the appropriate moment. You gotta hand it to the fundamentalists on that one. Pretty innovative.
Gooooooooo RI! (I went to HS there).
well if the team does a “unplanned spontenous prayer” and you have no choice but to join in, couldn’t one just make the prayer out to his own respective god? I know in Girl Schouts, one part of the Promise is “to serve God and my country” but one is allowed to substitute any name they choose for “God” to satisfy their religious beliefs.
Just a thought.
They gotta pledge to serve something? How Stepfordlike. But feel free to substitute “Rysdad” in there. I promise to be very benevolent and allow every other Thursday off.
Now just a damn minute! That ain’t me! I tried to edit a post, and now I’m someone else!
Mods! This isn’t sockpuppetry. I didn’t mean to alter my ego.
Please delete this post and that name.
Sheesh!
Actually, Sheerah, I think there are plenty of folks who take that description as a compliment.
I was thinking almost the same thing when I heard this being discussed on the radio earlier ( I think it was the same coach referred to in the OP). Actually, I wanted to call and ask if I could lead his kids in a “Hail, Mary” before the game.People (like the coach I heard) who identify themselves as simply “Christians” ( rather than being more specific) generally don’t go for that.
Probably a large part of the reason this doesn’t happen in big cities ( or even in small towns in the Northeast, as far as I know) is that certain areas are more homogeneous than others. I’d be willing to bet that NYC has a higher percentage of Hindus than most of the Bible Belt has of Catholics. When you take all of the non-“Christians” in NYC (including the Catholics,who started a parochial school system partly in response to the Protestant influence in public schools)you may not end up with a majority, but it will be a large enough group to guarantee trouble for whoever tried to start teacher or coach led prayer in a public school.