By Jorge Gomez
First Liberty Institute
University of Colorado football coach Deion Sanders invited a chaplain to speak to his team and offer a prayer after a recent game. But the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) complained that it violates the Constitution.
FFRF is wrong, and First Liberty has stepped in to clarify that public prayer and chaplain programs are constitutional. We wrote a letter to the University to address an incorrect and threatening letter that FFRF sent recently, in which it claimed that Coach Sanders is “entangling the public university football program with Christianity.”
“FFRF fumbled the law,” said First Liberty Senior Counsel Keisha Russell. “The United States has a robust and widely recognized tradition of both public prayer and chaplain programs dating back to the Continental Congress in 1776.”
The University’s chaplain program joins the long-standing American tradition that welcomes the participation of chaplains within a variety of America’s public spaces—or, as the case may be, even a locker room.
For decades, courts have upheld government chaplaincy programs as constitutional in many different contexts including state legislatures, military chaplaincy programs, prisons, and hospitals. The Supreme Court upholds chaplaincy programs even where the government selects a single chaplain to serve as its routine prayer-giver and that chaplain prays in accordance with his particular faith.
Our letter encourages the school to ignore FFRF’s complaints and continue exercising the right to invite a chaplain to offer encouragement and prayer for the team.
This isn’t the first time that FFRF has targeted Coach Sanders. Last year, the anti-religious group went after “Coach Prime,” because he praised and glorified God when he got the head coaching job. They also criticized him for inviting staff members and coaches to pray before several team meetings.
FFRF demanded Coach Sanders stop any kind of religious activity, arguing that it violated the “Separation of Church and State.” They even said he was somehow “coercing” or “imposing religion” on students because he allowed staff-only meetings to begin with a short prayer.
First Liberty explained to the University that FFRF dropped the ball when making those claims. The group cited an outdated legal precedent that the Supreme Court disavowed in our Coach Kennedy case. The Court’s precedent in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District made clear that public school employees may engage in religious expression and exercise.
What’s more, just because coaches and staff at a public university are engaging in prayer or other religious expression does not equal “coercion.” In Kennedy, the Supreme Court rejected the notion that the mere presence of religious activity is somehow coercive. Instead, the Court found no coercion “where there is no evidence anyone sought to persuade or force students to participate.”
The University of Colorado is well within its right to invite a chaplain into the locker room with its college athletes. Coach Sanders and the University should ignore FFRF’s Hail Mary.
Related News:
Sports Illustrated: Deion Sanders’ use of team chaplain caught up in argument over constitutionally
CBN News: Deion Sanders Pushes Back At Secular Group’s Claims That Use of Team Chaplain is ‘Unconstitutional’
Washington Times: Atheist group seeks to block Colorado coach Deion Sanders from holding team prayers
Learn More:
The Constitution Allows Public College Coaches to Live Out Their Faith
Deion Sanders Can’t Pray with His Coaching Staff?
Dear Anti-Religion Groups, You Can’t Freeze Football Coaches’ Constitutional Rights
First Liberty Defends Auburn’s Football Coach
