Football and faith

It looks like a complete non-story has begun to get national attention. Oneida High School, until recently, would lead students in the Lord's Prayer on the PA system prior to football games. When atheists and the ACLU rightly informed that that the school leading a prayer is unconstitutional, they decided to replace the prayer with a moment of silence.

Photo: WBIR

But when the moment of silence was announced at a game, cheerleaders began reciting the prayer on the side of the field instead. This completely un-noteworthy act has led Fox News to have the cheerleaders on air, said that they were defying a pre-game prayer ban, and that they were fighting for religious freedom. What a crock!

Fox News, and the ilk that believes everything they say, are making a huge mistake in their
assumptions. The school moving to a moment of silence was not a ban on prayer. Prayer wasn't banned at all. the only thing that changed is that the school is now following the law by not leading the prayer. The students and spectators always did and still do have the right to pray all they want. And the announcers can still pray all the want at all. They just have to do it privately rather than on the loudspeaker.

Since the cheerleaders took part in a prayer that was never taken away from them, how is it that they are fighting for religious freedom? Am I fighting for free speech if I say something that the government never said I couldn't say? Of course not! And that's exactly what is happening here. Despite Fox claiming victory for the cheerleaders, something different is actually happening. Fox and the cheerleaders are simply mistaking the removal of prayer from the PA system with a total ban on prayer. This is not oppression or an attack on religious liberty. All it is is a failure on their part to actually understand what exactly the ruling was, and that the right to personal prayer was never revoked.


-Brain Hulk

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