Ministers vow to lead football crowd in prayer at Texas school
By The Associated Press
08.30.00
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| Rev. Eugene Easterly |
SANTA FE, Texas — Prayer will mark the start of the football
season at Santa Fe High School this year, even though the school district
banned the practice in the wake of a recent Supreme Court ruling.
With lawyerly precision, a group of area ministers yesterday
encouraged citizens to recite the Lord's Prayer before this week's football
game — thereby taking the tradition of a pre-game prayer outside the
school's sanction and the scope of the
Supreme Court's June 19 decision
banning such prayers.
In a 6-3 ruling, the high court outlawed amplified, student-led prayer
that had the assent of public school officials. The Santa Fe Independent School
District, which was the defendant in the case, got rid of the traditional
pre-game prayer in July.
The Supreme Court ruling spawned a movement among religious groups
toward planned expressions of prayer before football games and at
school-sponsored events.
"This is simply our response to the board — that this is
something we can do," said the Rev. Eugene Easterly, the president of the Santa
Fe/Hitchcock Ministerial Alliance. The group comprises the leaders of 30
churches from around Santa Fe, a town of about 8,500 located just south of
Houston.
Meanwhile, a Virginia high school student was punished yesterday after
walking out of class to protest the state's new minute-of-silence law.
According to The Washington Post,
Jordan Kupersmith, a junior at Potomac Falls High School, left the classroom
yesterday and the previous day when the minute of silence was announced over
the school intercom. Kupersmith returned to class for the Pledge of Allegiance.
He was later summoned to the principal's office and given detention.
Yesterday evening, his family was notified by an American Civil
Liberties Union attorney, who intervened on his behalf, that he would be able
to avoid any further discipline this week by going to the principal's office
during the moment of silence, the Post reported.
Kupersmith is one of eight student plaintiffs in a
federal lawsuit filed by the ACLU of
Virginia challenging the new state law, which requires public schools to
set aside 60 seconds for students to meditate, pray or "engage in any other
silent activity" that does not disrupt the class. The ACLU plans to ask for a
preliminary injunction against the law in federal court on Sept. 1, the
Post reported.
In Texas, Kody Shed, through his group No Pray No Play, is
spearheading a statewide pre-game prayer effort. No Pray No Play has called on
Christians to converge on Santa Fe Sept. 1 to engage in so-called spontaneous
prayer.
Spontaneous has become a buzzword among pro-prayer advocates, because
the Supreme Court has consistently ruled it has no jurisdiction over
expressions of prayer that break out without planning at school events.
Shed said his organization will distribute cards to game attendees
asking them to join in a recitation of The Lord's Prayer as soon as the
National Anthem is finished on Sept. 1.
"I don't know of a school in Texas where this won't be happening,"
Shed said.
The ACLU has called such prayer illegal, because it alienates other
religious groups or those who are not religious.
"We have no problem supporting the right of free speech, be it
Buddhist or Jewish," said alliance member Alan Spelawn of the Alta Loma First
Baptist Church. "It's not about prayer, it's about a free right of speech."
But Spelawn and other members of the all-Christian alliance
acknowledged they had not sought the participation of any other denominations
beside Christians.
"We're a local group and we want to support the needs of our local
community," Spelawn said.
Baptists are a majority in Santa Fe, which was a factor in the Supreme
Court's decision.
Since the students are Baptist-majority, the court said Santa Fe
Independent School District's policy of allowing the student body to elect a
"chaplain" to lead prayers at graduation ceremonies and home football games was
illegal because it inherently favored Baptists at the expense of others.
Santa Fe will not be the site of the first prayers in protest of the
ruling.
Last week, in Batesburg-Leesville, S.C., the
student body president said a prayer
over the public address system. In Asheville, N.C., 25,000 people gathered
last week at a football stadium for a rally sponsored by a group urging the
recitation of The Lord's Prayer at football games.
No Pray, No Play expects 10,000 people to show up in Santa Fe on Sept.
1, according to Shed.
The 27-year-old lay praise and worship leader at Temple's Cornerstone
Christian Fellowship told the Houston
Chronicle in today's editions he is negotiating with Galveston
County Fair officials to use the fairgrounds for a rally after the prayer at
the football game is concluded.
Shed said he expects prayer to break out at football games around the
state this week. When asked if he knew how many groups planned to participate
statewide, Shed said he was unable to estimate because of the overwhelming
response to his organization's prayer plan.
Santa Fe Police Chief Barry Cook said he would have extra officers on
hand for traffic control purposes, but had no firm idea of how many extra
people to expect.
Related
ACLU asks Louisiana school district to end football-game prayer
Civil liberties group tells officials to stop practice within 10 days or face lawsuit.
10.25.00
Taking militant stance on public prayer misses the point
By Douglas Lee Insisting on prayer at high school football games is inconsistent with Christianity and the First Amendment.
09.01.00
Prayer protest drowned out at Texas field where debate began
Meanwhile, some students, parents lead pre-game prayer rallies at other Southern schools; at least one school defies Supreme Court ruling.
09.05.00
Groups across South promise to continue pre-football game prayer
Grass-roots movement encourages 'spontaneous' prayer as way to get around Supreme Court ruling.
08.25.00
Court upholds 2 principles in prayer ruling
By Charles Haynes Here we go again. Last Monday's Supreme Court ruling on prayer at high school football games is sure to renew charges and counter-charges about God being "kicked out" of public schools.
06.25.00
