Some are the aging eminences grises of the religious right like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson who have not seen the inside of a high school classroom in years. Others are like Rev. Ralph Sexton, a Baptist minister in Asheville, N.C. has who wrangled media time for organizing pre-game prayers around that state last week. He heads an organization calling itself We Still Pray that attracted thousands of supporters to an August 17 rally. Enough is enough, blusters Sexton, referring to the high court s ban on fraudulent school prayer. Adult religious groups have turned the high school prayer fracas into a political issue, with some students unwittingly being drafted into a proxy culture war taking place even at high school football games.
Questions remain about the spontaneous religious outburst, though.
As long as school authorities remain neutral and uninvolved, and do not furnish publicity or resources for these gridiron devotionals, the activity may fall under the free speech and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment. That may do little do discourage the prayer, though, since local ministerial groups can bring in their own PA systems. Another tactic has been for a local radio station to broadcast the spontaneous prayer, with supporters simply bringing their own boom boxes into the stadium, and on full volume subjecting their neighbors to prayer. Given the fact that the spontaneous prayer bullying is likely within the technical shadow of the law, the fact that such behavior is downright inconsiderate, annoying and likely to become boorish may be the best argument against it. When one heads to a movie theater to see a film, you don t expect to be harassed with a religious message.