Prayer and football games tend to go together. There is no doubt that if the Anglo-Saxon Seahawks had matched up against the Frank Redskins, prayers would have been heard across the ancient Roman Empire. Even if they call on the Almighty at no other time during the week, fans and players will breathe out prayers when it comes time for a football game.
A school in Georgia, though, went farther than just a pre-game prayer in the locker room or murmured pleas from the stands. The cheerleaders at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School until recently displayed Bible verses on huge banners at games. Rather than simply praying for God's blessing, these students decided to stand on His Word on behalf of their football team. Now that the school district has ruled that the football players may no longer run through banners with the Scriptures on them, the students are making sure that prayer and God's word continue to find their way into the games.
Fort Oglethorpe is a town with a large number of churches, like many similar towns in the South. Townspeople freely display signs like, "TRUTH IS NOT SOMETHING TRUTH IS SOMEONE" and "PRAISE THE LORD AND EAT A BISCUIT." After September 11, 2001, the cheerleaders at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School decided to make God a bigger part of school life, and began to paint huge banners of Bible verses for the football games. They painted up slogans derived from verses, like "Be men of courage; be strong" (1 Cor. 16:13); "We will support you, so take courage and do it" (Ezra 10:4); and "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed" (Prov. 37:5). The Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe Warriors would then crash through these banners as they ran onto the field.
For eight years this went on, and nobody made a fuss until September 23, 2009. The banner displayed before the game on September 18 read, "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 3:14" The next Wednesday, Donna Jackson, the mother of an LFO High student, called the Catoosa County school superintendent. Worried that the signs would eventually cause the school district to face a lawsuit, Jackson warned that the practice of displaying Bible verses was illegal because the games were a school-sponsored activity.
Supt. Denia Reese heard Jackson out, and the school district finally ruled that the religiously themed banners had to go. "Personally, I appreciate this expression of their Christian values," Reese said in a statement. "However, as superintendent I have the responsibility of protecting the school district from legal action by groups who do not support their beliefs." She said the US Supreme Court had ruled that religious activity at football games created the "inescapable conclusion" that the activity was school endorsed.
The cheerleaders were upset, of course. They argued that they, and not the school, were the ones painting those banners; being told to stop the displays violated their First Amendment rights.
"I did not think it was a violation of the law because the girls fundraised the money for the signs and it was a completely student-led activity," said Susan Bradley, Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe's cheerleading coach.
The cheerleaders received immediate and loud support in the community. People rallied to insist that the signs be brought back. "Our Constitution does guarantee that our federal government will not establish a religion," youth pastor Jeremy Jones told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. "It will also make sure that we are allowed to exercise it without interference from the government. That is what we need to fight for, folks."
Since religiously-oriented banners have been relegated to the lawn outside the stadium, the townspeople and students have taken to wearing religiously-themed T-shirts into the games. Some even have painted Bible verses on their bodies. The fans in the stands have also been bringing their own plethora of scripture-bearing signs for the games, and students gather in the mid-field to pray afterward.
Fort Oglethorpe Mayor Ronnie Cobb has said he would call on City Council officials to support the cheerleaders in displaying the signs. Either way, the Scripture is getting a lot of screen-time in Fort Oglethorpe, and will continue to be displayed as long as the people make it a priority to spread God's Word in their town.
Related Links:
• Cheerleaders Religious Signs Draw Fire - Chattanooga Times Free Press