Bible verses banned from school football field

[snopes]

Cheerleaders at a north Georgia high school are gearing up for another football game, but they won't be holding up signs bearing Bible verses.

The school district banned the signs over concerns they were unconstitutional and would provoke a lawsuit. The ban has angered many in the deeply religious community near Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School.

http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/art...rses02-ON.html

[Insensible Crier]

One of the signs at a previous game said: "Commit to the Lord, whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."

Yeah, that's totally not promoting religion.

[MapleLeaf]

Edit: Never mind. I am not a careful reader.

[jimmy101_again]

One of the signs at a previous game said: "Commit to the Lord, whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."

So the team that wins is the team that has "commit(ed) to the lord" the most?

The heck with conditioning during football practice. If you want to win it is better to spend that time in prayer.

[lord_feldon]

Originally Posted by jimmy101_again

So the team that wins is the team that has "commit(ed) to the lord" the most?

Yes.

(I am not responsible for any homoerotic undertones read into the excerpt. But, you know, I am looking for a new toaster oven...)

The coach named in the excerpt was (and still is is) the coach where I went to school.

ETA: This statement reflects a pretty common sentiment in some places:

Sixty-two young men turned out for a week of Football and Faith at our first football camp designed to train up warriors who can defend the cause of Christ.

Football (or another sport, usually football around here) = battle
Christianity = battle
Therefore football = Christianity.

-Lord "I wish I was making it up" Feldon

[AnglRdr]

Originally Posted by lord_feldon

Football = battle
Christianity = battle
Therefore football = Christianity.

-Lord "I wish I was making it up" Feldon

Reminds me of the stupidity of the idea of "Prayer Warriors."

[MidgardDragon]

Good. Hopefully all the complaints about bans on prayer at football games will actually come true now. Then at least the evangelicals will be accurate in their whining.

[kitap]

Originally Posted by MidgardDragon

Good. Hopefully all the complaints about bans on prayer at football games will actually come true now. Then at least the evangelicals will be accurate in their whining.

I want this team to have to play against a high school made up of Sikhs or Hindus or something and have to listen to their prayers. I bet they'd think that was wrong and unAmerican and everything.

Also I want them to play against the dancing football team from Glee.

[Mr. Furious]

Originally Posted by jimmy101_again

So the team that wins is the team that has "commit(ed) to the lord" the most?

As Jeff Stilson said, "You know, just once I'd like to hear a player say, 'Yeah, we were in the game, until Jesus made me fumble. He hates our team.'"

[Avril]

There's even a movie about how committing to the Lord helps you win football games. I really, really wish I was kidding.

[BlueStar]

Maybe this is why God lets disasters occur, he's too busy rigging high school sports so that the most devout team wins.

[Insensible Crier]

Originally Posted by lord_feldon

Football (or another sport, usually football around here) = battle
Christianity = battle
Therefore football = Christianity.

-Lord "I wish I was making it up" Feldon

So the Book of Revelation is actually talking about a football game?

"Satan throws the ball... intercepted by the Archangel Michael! Wow, Evil's team just hasn't been doing well since the Whore of Babylon left the field with a groin pull."

[Tarquin Farquart]

I've heard of praying your team wins, but this is ridiculous.

[Elkhound]

I was always taught that it was wrong to pray that your team would win. One should pray that everyone plays fair, that nobody gets (seriously) hurt, and that the best team should win.

[moonfall]

I misread this. I was going to post that there's nothing wrong with fans bringing religious signs to football games.

Then I realized it was the cheerleaders doing that. Kinda makes a difference. I'm assuming it's something the school sponsors rather than the cheerleaders making individual decisions?

[Amigone201]

Originally Posted by moonfall

I misread this. I was going to post that there's nothing wrong with fans bringing religious signs to football games.

Then I realized it was the cheerleaders doing that. Kinda makes a difference. I'm assuming it's something the school sponsors rather than the cheerleaders making individual decisions?

Students acting in their capacity as agents of the school are subject to the same First Amendment restrictions that any school employee is. Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe

[moonfall]

Ah, thanks.

On a semi-related note, could Tim Tebow* be forced to stop placing Bible verses in his face paint (not sure what to call the black marks football players paint under their eyes)? It seems to be something he does for personal inspiration independent of the university or the rest of the football team.

*Tebow is the start quarterback for the University of Florida football team. The university is a public one.

[Amigone201]

Originally Posted by moonfall

Ah, thanks.

On a semi-related note, could Tim Tebow* be forced to stop placing Bible verses in his face paint (not sure what to call the black marks football players paint under their eyes)? It seems to be something he does for personal inspiration independent of the university or the rest of the football team.

*Tebow is the start quarterback for the University of Florida football team. The university is a public one.

I don't have a definitive answer, as that hasn't been tested in court, but I would probably fall on the side of letting him. Even adorning his own uniform with Bible verses would be constitutional (but it would violate the UF and NCAA uniform consistency rules). The face paint doesn't strike me as something he's doing as a UF player, just as Tim Tebow.

If the whole team were doing it, even as an agreement just among themselves, with no coaches involved, that would make it more problematic. It would look kind of like their camaraderie was partly built around religion.

[moonfall]

I'm inclined to agree with you, and fortunately, nobody has made an issue of it.

[fitz1980]

The Tim Tebow question is an interesting one.

On one hand he is just adorning himself with the numbers of bible verses that have meaning for him. Plenty of people adorn themselves with religious symbols. Lots of tattoos are religious in nature and I couldn't see them forcing a player to cover up a visible tattoo of a cross or something like that; or stopping a Jewish player from wearing a Star-of-David neckless for a post game interview.

On the flip side if an atheist player were to show up with the phrase "there is" "no God" written in his eye makeup how long do you think it would take the NCAA to ban anything of that nature?