Atheist group tries to block Alabama high school from 'inappropriate' praying at football games

SCOTUS disagrees with you.

I went to a Christian school for 4 years. I was only Christian for the first two of those years. I didn't have any problem listening to prayer. If people want to put their faith in a being that I don't personally consider real then fine by me.

I'm a Pantheist and I'm a rather liberal individual, but even I can see when being PC gets out of hand. It's a damn football game and nobody is forcing anyone to pray.

does it work? Didn't Jesus tell people to pray in private and not in public?

have a moment of silence then... why do you have to bleat on about jesus over the bloody p.a.

Jesus is a football fan. Who knew?

Yes, he is and he also loves SKEEBALL!!

yes he loves football, beer, the klan and our war machine!

According to the Bible and Jesus the atheists may well be right on prayer.

Jesus actually said

Matthew 6:5-8 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

[link to bibleresources.bible.com]

He already knows both sides want to win...lol

"Matthew 6:5-8 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are"

Jesus, once again wants you to know that God is more concerned with the motivation of the heart. Hes is saying that Hypocrites pray for all to see because THEY want to be glorified and lifted up in the eyes of men. The real heartfelt pray happens when you are one with God, when you pray to Him and your motivations are about Him and your relationship with Him.

There are examples of collective prayer in the bible.

The main thing that Jesus is teaching is to NOT be like the Hypocrites, He was NOT teaching that the only time you pray is when you are by yourself.

way out of context as usual.

I don't think much of prayer before a football match, but still you should let your opponents team do their pre game ritual. It's only just manners!
I mean look at what the New Zealand all blacks do before a game? No one is ever going to tell them to stop, they'd get beaten to a bloody pulp!

Last Edited by mindfrac on 10/31/2011 08:42 AM

Our football team prays before every game. Unfortunately our season was put to an end

"It is coercive and inappropriate to ask students to listen"

who knew students still listened anyways.

I played football into the NFL. High School/College/NFL. I always thought it was stupid to pray the catholic kings prayer before games especially when the majority on the teams were always black and baptist, but I just shut uo and let them do what they wanted out of respect. The black guys are usually very religious and stuff, and it seemed to help them get into a warrior spirit.

They might be able to get the prayer stopped officially, but this is Alabama. It will continue, just in a different form. They threatened another school earlier this year. The school stopped the prayers, but the fans continued. They can stop the guy with the microphone from praying, but they can't stop 3000 fans.

Why don't you tell us how it is out of context.

New International Version (©1984)
But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

New Living Translation (©2007)
But Jesus told him, "Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead."

English Standard Version (©2001)
And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead."

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

International Standard Version (©2008)
But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

Aramaic Bible in Plain English (©2010)
But Yeshua said to him, “Come after me and let the dead bury their dead.”

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

American King James Version
But Jesus said to him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

American Standard Version
But Jesus saith unto him, Follow me; and leave the dead to bury their own dead.

Bible in Basic English
But Jesus said to him, Come after me; and let the dead take care of their dead.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But Jesus said to him: Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.

Darby Bible Translation
But Jesus said to him, Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.

English Revised Version
But Jesus saith unto him, Follow me; and leave the dead to bury their own dead.

Webster's Bible Translation
But Jesus said to him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Weymouth New Testament
"Follow me," said Jesus, "and leave the dead to bury their own dead."

World English Bible
But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."

Young's Literal Translation
and Jesus said to him, 'Follow me, and suffer the dead to bury their own dead.'

..........I think I'm in love with you!! just kidding...but you are so right.........prayer in a public school setting - of any kind - has NO place in our society......

and beides, isn't it considered blasphemy to pray for a victory in a stupid damn ballgame?

these people will never learn that separation of church and state is a part of our deomocracy, whether they believe it or not......

so, folks, go home, or to your church, and pray there....

as the old farmer once said......'when they start teaching readin', writin' and 'rithmatic in church, then I'll pray in the schools'..................

yea and it also has separation of church and state.

You are more then welcome to practice your religion all you wish.

Just don't shove your sun god worship pagan beliefs down the throats of innocent kids at school.

Wanna pray before games and all that jazz, feel free to go join a christian school.

lol! even atheists have more respect for God than christians! to pray for something like to win a game is disgusting.

no wonder.

Dont you people understand Separation of church and state, it means your government cant force you to have one religion that they endorse, does not have anything to do with weather or not you can pray in public. Free speech, freedom of religion. The founding Fathers beleived if you take God out of this country it would fail. look around you! Yes you should pray in private when it comes to yourself, this is telling you not to be boastfull, or dont pray to bring attention to yourself. If you notice they are praying for a good clean game and sportsmanship, or so no one will get hurt. Prayer is a good thing and God comands us to pray, for everyone and everything, :ask and you will recieve, knock and he will answer. I pray for all of you every day.

Which means the government can not give preferential treatment to any religion.
That obstructs the free exercise of any other religion.

Appropriating publicly funded equipment to proselytise is unconstitutional.
Public employees engaging in it during working hours is down right scandalous.
These people have no respect for the law, no respect for the freedom of religion, no respect for what America is supposed to stand for.



It's not about the praying.



You gotta pray, if only to neutralise the Power of Prayer of the opposing team. :)

What I don't like about this is how an organization from Wisconsin is complaining about a high school in rural north Alabama. Let the community decide what they want...not a closed group of people who have never set foot in Alabama.


On a side note... Brooks High School is in Killen, Alabama - a town that earned its name. It's the hometown of "The League of the South" - another independent organization whose goal is to secede from America.

I used to play in NJ in the 70's and we prayed before games, but before hand the coach reminded us if anybody did not want God's blessing they could refuse it!

prayer does not belong in public schools or sporting events. the arrogance of bible thumpers - to actually think that an imaginary man in the sky chose to watch their pissant little game - out of all the other significant events in the world the he could have chosen to watch and have some effect on...
yeah ok

A) Read the first amendment in your Constitution.

B) Keep your religion to yourself.

C) Read the first amendment again.

D) Move to a different country if you don't like steps A and C.

yeah but jesus freaks who did alot of inbreeding can't read at the same level as you or I. remember this si alabama we are talking about.

el gato you are a fool if you think the founding fathers thought the country would fail if god were taken out of it. thats why you believe in god though isn't it.