From the Asheville Citizen-Times
Christian organizers in South cope with Supreme Court's
prayer ruling
FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Updated: Aug 26 at 01:29
ASHEVILLE - When it comes to high school football and prayer,
the sentiments of former Asheville High School football coach Bill Stanley and
wide receiver Scott Edwards of Mississippi echoed across the South.
They go together, and no court can change that.
"We did it forever. The team did it together," Stanley said just
before North Buncombe and Erwin high schools took the gridiron at North
Buncombe's stadium Friday night.
"I hate to see it go. I think it was a good thing, and I think our Congress
needs to look at it pretty close. If a person wants to pray, they should be able
to pray," Stanley said.
Edwards agrees. The 16-year-old son of a Baptist preacher and many of his
classmates at Bogue Chitto High are counting on fans in this little Mississippi
community to restore prayer to the stadium legally - with individuals deciding,
on their own, to join hands and recite the Lord's Prayer.
"We have a very strong Christian atmosphere here," Edwards said of the
town, which has a Baptist church directly across from the 500-student school.
"I feel like people have a right to express their Christian views. This is
a community thing."
The students' effort is part of a grass-roots movement, mainly in communities
across the South, to encourage "spontaneous" prayer as a way to get
around a U.S. Supreme Court ruling barring school officials from letting
students lead stadium crowds in prayer. Western North Carolina residents have
banded together to form a group called We Still Pray. Thousands of people
crammed Reynolds High School's football stadium last week for a special rally
urging people to keep prayer alive at football games.
"I think it's a big mistake," said Ronnie Vance of Asheville, who
attended Friday's game between Asheville and Pisgah high schools. "There's
a lot of kids (who are) religious. It probably would make a lot of difference to
the kids more than anything else.
"I just don't understand the ruling the Supreme Court - period. You
understand what I'm saying?"
The high court ruling in June came in a Texas case brought by two families - one
Catholic and one Mormon - who challenged a school policy of letting students
elect someone to lead the benediction.
At football games across Western North Carolina Friday night, residents bowed
their heads and honored a few moments of silent prayer.
Before the kickoff of the Enka-Roberson game at Roberson High School, some heads
among the full house bowed during a two-minute intermission between the playing
of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and the coin toss. The crowd remained
subdued, even though there were no announcements
regarding prayer or a moment of silence.
At the North Buncombe-Erwin game, scattered pockets of people sported "We
Still Pray" T-shirts and kept silent for a moment after the national
anthem, while most of the fans attending the Reynolds-Tuscola game bowed their
heads silently and spontaneously without any apparent encouragement for about
one minute.
A moment of silence was announced at the Asheville-Pisgah game. Wayland Clinard
and Ned Nelson, both of Canton, said they would prefer organized prayer.
"They took it out for the ones who don't like it, but what about the ones
who do like it and care," Nelson said.
Clinard added football and pre-game prayers go hand-in-hand. "I'd say there
are more people here who are believers than non-believers."
David Ingebretsen of the American Civil Liberties Union said what is being
planned is illegal.
"It seems to me that a planned spontaneous prayer cannot be spontaneous and
it violates the court's ruling," Ingebretsen said. "If this planned,
spontaneous prayer happens, it forces everyone there to hear that prayer or to
participate in it."
The movement, which has gained momentum over the past couple of weeks, was
spearheaded in Mississippi by radio talk-show host Paul Ott, who used his
syndicated call-in program, "Listen to the Eagle," to get his message
out on stations in Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas.
Ott, who sees the removal of prayer from schools as the cause of many of the
nation's ills, said he consulted with lawyers and believes individual
participation is the key to avoiding a legal confrontation. In Buncombe County,
the We Still Pray movement has organized a petition drive urging Congress to
pass legislation seeking a constitutional amendment overturning court decisions
that disallow organized prayer in public schools.
"I don't know who's going to start it. I think it will be the
students," Ott said. "We don't think this is breaking the law, but if
it is breaking the law, I don't think they're going to take thousands of people
to jail."
Jim Keith, the attorney for the Mississippi school district, said as long as the
school isn't orchestrating the prayer, there's no harm done. "If fans are
sitting in the stand, and they want to branch out and say the Lord's Prayer, or
some prayer to Allah or whoever, they can do that," Keith said.
In South Carolina, crowds plan to gather around the goal post and in the
bleachers to recite the Lord's Prayer before high school games.
Elsewhere in Mississippi, people in Hattiesburg and Tupelo plan to distribute
fliers urging fans to pray at football games in those communities, said J.D.
Simpson of First Priority, a national campus ministry for junior high and high
schools.
And the American Family Association, a conservative group in Tupelo, is also
urging students and spectators at high school games across the country to recite
the Lord's Prayer.
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