A student prayed over the loudspeaker before the game. So where is the teeth in the supreme court’s decision to ban prayer before sporting events at public schools? Lawsuits by ordinary non-christian people who attend the games you say? Probably not in our community, because I am in the heart of the bible belt. In our case last night a student said the pledge of allegiance then decided to hastily add a christian prayer after it. Let’s say you were in the audience and were offended, then who you gonna sue? The student? She’s a minor in our case so you would get nothing. It would probably be a long and winding uphill battle to sue the school with no real decision other than a judgement not to do it again. However I am not a lawyer so I am just asking,
The teeth in the Supreme Court’s ruling restrict the actions of government agencencies not individual students. Now, if before each of the rest of your high school games a student “decides at teh last minute” to say a brief Christian prayer, and if the school officials have taken no action to dissuade students from such actions, then someone might have a case for suit. [sub](note: Spiritus Mundi is not a lawyer and his legal opinions are not considered binding in whatever state you have residence.)[/sub]
So far, we seem just to have one more example of a Christian who believes it is more important to be seen/heard praying than it is to respect the beliefs of other faiths.
We had our first game too…i just LOVED the stares from my teammates and coaches (i’m tied for teh starting spot…and i got 5 plays in the entire game. the kid who they kept in umped offsides 3 times. what usually happens in such a situation? he’s out for at leat a quarter) when i didn’t do the ol’ bow my head and hold somebody’s hand thing. damn the man.
I have a simple solution. From now on the school shall be required to play a recorded version of the pledge before each game. No live comments of any kind from students.
All because of the irrespomsible act of one student.
Mean, huh? Yep.
Paece,
mangeorge
I was under the impression that the PA system was considered government property, so therfore the supreme court can say what it is used for.
I say you go to the principal, ask him what action was taken on the student, and to see a record of this action. If he supplies you with none, or he refuses to see you, you may have a 55 million dollar(estimation) case here.
What idiotic school would send a student up to the PA booth alone to say the pledge. None, they did it for a reason, so I say sue the pants off of them.
Contact the ACLU also, they’ll know much more than I will. (But they will most likely have cases up the whazoo.)
They said the pledge of allegiance just before the game? The pledge mentions God. So what were they saying the pledge for? If I remember back in the 60’s correctly, the original reason for the decision by the supreme court was M.M. O’hare suing because she, being an athiest, didn’t want her son to hear the name “God”. So, if I am correct, and I may not be, saying the pledge is just as illegal as a student praying, if not moreso, because the prayer was spontaneous.
I agree with Powerpuff – check with the local branch of the ACLU or Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. Alert them to the problem so they can monitor it and see if it happens again. Then they can contact the school and warn them. Often, such warnings are enough to put a stop to it (especially when there was just a high-publicity case about essentially the same thing, like there was with this).
Find a willing student, and suggest to the powers that be that he be allowed to deliver the pledge before the football game. Imply that he might just “add a little something extra” to the end, wink wink, nudge nudge.
Then, after delivering the pledge, he strips naked, does a little dance, and sacrifices a live chicken to the obscure deity of his choice. A simple prayer to Satan would probably get the message across, but the live chicken sacrifice really adds that je ne sais quoi.
And to HELL with respect for people of other faiths! Praise Jesus!
Just because simple manners and the highest law of the land is on their side, they are heathens and will burn, and are in the minority, so trample away on what rights they have.
A few things for indignant non/anti-Christians to mull over:
Where is it written in the Constitution that you (or I, for that matter) have a right NEVER to hear anything that makes you uncomfortable?
These “teeth” you talk about for the Supreme Court’s anti-prayer rulings… what “teeth” would make you happy? You want Christian teens put in prison? Oh, I know! Send out the National Guard to high school football games, with orders to shoot on sight if they spot someone saying the Lord’s Prayer!
Folks, there is absolutely no way that a school can avoid offending SOMEBODY! Forget God entirely- suppose I’m a communist, and I hate everything the USA stands for. Moreover, I don’t want my kids “indoctrinated” with jingoistic patriotism. Can I sue to have schools stop playing the national anthem before football games? Can I sue to stop having the Stars and Stripes flown on school campuses?
Hey, suppose I’m a Republican, and the local high school is named after John F. Kennedy… isn’t that pressuring my children to venerate a President I hate? I have a right NEVER to have my kids hear things I don’t like at school, damn it! Maybe I should sue!
Hey, maybe I’m a Quaker pacifist, and the school song’s lyrics say “Fight fight fight for Old Central High!” That’s immoral! It’s teaching my children to engage in fighting and violence! I think I’ll sue!
Worst of all, prayers at football games are usually prayers for your team to be victorious. Which, if you think about it another way, are prayers for the other team to lose.
aha: Did your school win that football game? If so, I like the idea of the opposing team’s coach saying, “We would have won that game, but Jesus wouldn’t let us!”
Actually I am for a prayer before the game, especially the one delivered at our game with content basically asking for the safety of both teams both during the game and returning home.
But hey tell it to Sandra Day O’Conner et al. It’s their idea. I have been curious however, since the decision came down as to have it was going to be enforced.
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We opened up a 40 ounce of whipass on neighboring Valliant Oklahoma Bulldogs.
