2023-07-04 02:50:24
Having the freedom to say a prayer to God before starting a sports dispute is something that athletes from two teams in Florida, United States, maintain as a tradition. However, now, a group has decided to start a legal battle to prevent Christian players from having this initiative.
The American athletes are from the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans, both from the NFL sports league. Their teams are now having to fight in court since 2015, when the Florida High School Athletic Association first filed a lawsuit against the clubs.
The Association claims that even though they are teams from private teaching units, including Christian denominations, the initiative of the players to say a prayer before the games would violate the freedom of conscience of other people, since they also perform in public stadiums maintained by the government .
The teams’ defense is being made by the First Liberty Institute, which points to “the constitutional right to pray over the loudspeaker at the beginning of a state championship football game between two Christian schools” as an absolute no-brainer.
“The First Amendment protects the rights of students and faculty at a private Christian school to pray before a football game, especially when both teams are Christian and have a tradition of pre-game prayer,” said Jeremy Dys, senior adviser to the First Liberty Institute.
“By banning pre-game prayer over the loudspeaker, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) sent a message to these students that prayer is wrong and something you should be ashamed of. This is dangerous and unconstitutional.” WND.
veiled persecution
The Florida High School Athletic Association’s reaction is just another example of thinly veiled religious persecution of Christians. Other similar cases, also involving Christian athletes or coaches, have already been registered in the United States. See another example below:
Christian coach fired for praying on field wins Supreme Court
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