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Filed under: In The News, Weird But True
The cheerleaders at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School in Georgia are big fans of God.
The squad used to hoist banners sporting the Lord's personal endorsement. Now, signs that include Bible verses and slogans, such as "God loves our cheerleaders," have been banned.
School district officials told ABC News they feared lawsuits.
In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a high school in Texas had to end pre-game prayers. Justices said the prayers amounted to a public institution imposing religious values in conflict with the protections of the First Amendment.
Here's the Chattanooga, Tn. News Channel 9 take on the issue:
The cheerleaders' spiritual banners have been a tradition at the Georgia high school -- 95 miles north of Atlanta on the Tennessee border -- for the many years. Football players burst through the banners as they run onto the field.
Removing the banners has both saddened and enraged members of the community of 11,000 people (counting both Lakeview and Fort Oglethorpe).
"It broke my heart to tell those girls they could not display that message on the football field," Catoosa County School District Superintendent Denia Reese told ABC News. "Personally, I appreciate their expression of their Christian values."
However, she added, she has a duty to protect the district from lawsuits.
Even the parent who first raised concern over the banners told ABC News she hates to see them go. She, too, said she was concerned primarily with legalities.
"I did call the superintendent to express concern that the cheerleaders' signs be done in such a way that all involved were within the ever-changing and very confusing lines drawn by the federal courts about such things," the mother, Donna Jackson, told ABC News.
Students plan on expressing their faith anyway. Many of them, not just cheerleaders, plan on holding banners expressing religious sentiments before the games -- but 100 yards from the actual football stadium.
District officials, students and parents are still unhappy that the banners have been banned.
"I hate it," Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School Principal Jerry Ransom told ABC News.
What do you think? Should God be part of public school?
Related: T-Shirts Branded with First Amendment Banned at School, School Dress Code Angers Parents
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ReaderComments (Page 5 of 17)
10-03-2009 @ 3:52PM
kaet said...Dethpuck and others,
Our country was not founded by Christians. A number of our founding Fathers were Deists. Deists are not Christian because they do not believe in the divinity of Jesus. For a definintion see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism
In addition, Quakers and Catholics were considered Heritics by many. Given the history of religious repression in Western Europe and the beliefs of many of our founding Fathers, an informed person would never claim that we were founded as a Christian nation.
"The duty of a Democracy is to protect the rights of the few from the tyranny of the many." - Thomas Jefferson, founding father and Deist.
As far as Christianity teaching values - my guess is that the brand of Christianity taught in a small Georgian town is the brand that narrowly defines Christian to those that are "saved", hardly a loving and inclusive view point and one that excludes most of the worlds Christians from Heaven.
This type of Christianity also condemns Mahatma Gandhi, a Hindu, Mother Theresa, a Catholic and Desmond Tutu, an Episcopal.
An interesting side bar is that when approaching death, the more religious = the most fear, the less belief in a God = less fear.
10-03-2009 @ 4:06PM
Ricardo said...For all the people out there who forgot this: This country was founded by Christians! The "seperation of church and state" was intended to keep a certain religious group...The Church of England... from controlling the people, governing their lives and punishing them if they wanted to believe in another Christian sect. Why do you think they came he to begin with? Christian Religion was taught in schools and Universities for centuries. It started being phased out by judges who misinterpted the meaning. I think religion should be taught in school and not just one but ALL religions!
10-03-2009 @ 2:44PM
john martin said...i agree with sara 100%, and jonathan6971 , you are an idiot. i personally think that if they encouraged all religious views, including muslim, jewish, wiccan and buddistic beliefs it would be more fair, though not right. religion is a private thing, if you feel the need to pray, then do it your car, your home or your church, if you feel the need to write it then text a friend or group of friends, i personally don't like religion shoved down my throat, and it isn't the same thing as advertisement of product LS, any religious propaganda(which is what this is) is generally designed to make the reader think that they are less for not following certain beliefs, i can't really see that with your typical billboard. keep your bible thumping where it belongs, in a church.
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10-03-2009 @ 9:44PM
LS said..."it isn't the same thing as advertisement of product LS, any religious propaganda(which is what this is) is generally designed to make the reader think that they are less for not following certain beliefs, i can't really see that with your typical billboard."
Then congratulations, you are one of the few people in the country who completely miss the point of advertising. ALL advertising is "generally designed to make the reader think that they are less for not following certain beliefs"... look at almost any ad... "drink this beer and you'll be the life of the party", "wear this perfume/makeup/hair product, and all the men will fall all over you".
Advertising is so ubiquitous that you just don't notice that it's being shoved down your throat. You're that used to it. All these girls were doing was advertising. Nobody put a gun to anybody's head and said, "you MUST worship this way". THAT is what the "separation of church and state" means.
10-03-2009 @ 2:50PM
dougdouglasscpi said...AND MAN CREATED GOD.
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10-03-2009 @ 2:51PM
rt said...Remember the rule of law? It's the LAW, folks. Displaying religious messages is illegal in schools and it's morally and ethically wrong for the teachers, coach and principal to be supporting what the cheerleaders are doing. As someone else suggested, what would the reaction be if there were Muslim or Wiccan sentiments being expressed? Like it or lump it, the USA isn't just a Judeo-Christian country anymore. (Not that it was ever comfortable being Jewish or Catholic, for that matter.) We're also Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and a 100 others I'm forgetting. So suck it up. The USA is a cultural and religious melting pot and you dis one, you dis us all.
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10-03-2009 @ 2:54PM
Frank said...Seems to me, people should be more afraid of cutting God out of our schools than they are about some lawsuit. This is, according to our Pledge of Allegiance, "...one nation, UNDER GOD..."
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10-03-2009 @ 3:03PM
turdbreath said...Frank: The "Under God" part was added in the early 1950's because the McCarthyites wanted to distinguish America from those godless Commies. It's a relic of the cold war, not some sacred cornerstone of the founding of America. Learn your history, and not the kind they taught in sunday school.
10-03-2009 @ 3:49PM
john martin said...just to let you know the "under god" part was actually added later.
10-03-2009 @ 5:08PM
M A Dark said...the words "one nation under God" were put in the pledge during the administration of Dwight Eisenhower, about 1952 for political reasons.
I learned it the original way and it should have stayed that way.
10-03-2009 @ 2:56PM
Trish Beech said...kay 10-03-2009 @ 2:28PM - Please note
Our constitution was written to allow freedom OF religion, or if you choose, freedom FROM religion - meaning the government cannot mandate participation in a specific religion or prevent you from participating in your chosen religion. At the same time, the founding fathers saw that some nut jobs might start just your brand of censorship, and added that pesky little part about FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Nothing in the constitution says you have to agree with our free speech, you just have to allow it. It's kinda like that advertisments for Cialis or Viagra....I don't particularly like them - I find them distasteful, but I don't have to listen or read them. All I have to do is change the station, turn the page, or look away. See how that works??? As for the banners at the football games...get over it. Or are you going to set out to eliminate all media messages that you personally disagree with?
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10-03-2009 @ 2:59PM
Victoria said...What if the banners proudly displayed atheism? Would you be so quick to back it up then and say "those signs were made by kids and supported by kids"? I can bet that some of you would not. Think about what you're saying before you make such generalized statements.
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10-03-2009 @ 3:55PM
john martin said...i absolutely agree victoria.
10-04-2009 @ 8:02AM
r said...Victoria, Yes I would support the kids rights to express their atheism(which IS a religion by the way), but even if it wasn't I would still support them. The only ones forcing religion on anyone is the Supreme court, they are banning ALL religions(except atheism) from schools therefore siding with atheism and choosing it as the government backed religion.
10-03-2009 @ 3:04PM
Sabrina said...I dont think they should be banned. People think that christians are forcing them to believe...But...what about gays, lesbians, same sex marriage, evolution (which is still taught in school) and so forth. We that do not believe in those are being forced to have that in our lives. Also what happened to freedom of speech. I should have the right to pray in public just as much as gays and lesbians have the right to hold hands, kiss and marry in public when there are others that dont believe in it. If they dont want to hear it, turn the other way and dont listen, just as much as i dont want to see two girls or guys kissing....I just have to turn away. Americans are losing their freedom. What are they going to do next, tell us we cant go to church any longer.
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10-03-2009 @ 4:02PM
john martin said...the difference sabrina is that evolution has been proved. the only prtoven thing in the bible is that jesus lived(not that he was necessarily the son of god) and that there was a lotof patriarchism involved, do you really want to go back to some of the old beliefs? i suggest you read corinthians and dueteronomy and then decide, i.e. adulterers are to be killed, anyone born out of wedlock is not allowed in a church to the 10th generation and lots more, if you want to believe then believe it all, wait til you see what it says about sex before marriage
10-03-2009 @ 3:10PM
Sarah Brown said...F.H.- Atheists being quiet about your beliefs? HA, that's the funniest thing I've heard all year. Atheists are no quieter than Christians, period.
What is ridiculous about this case is that if the cheerleaders were holding up signs to Allah, or any other god, and were banned, the ACLU would get involved right away saying that this is taking away freedom of speech.
Just because the sign was to the Christian God, suddenly it's oppressive and forceful. It is the same story if someone wanted to start a new club. You start an African American club and you are progressive, you start a Caucasian club and you are racist.
The double standard that is evolving in this country is ridiculous. The white, Christian man is essentially screwed these days by the people who are "fighting for equality and freedom for all."
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10-06-2009 @ 2:25AM
pan said..."The white, Christian man is essentially screwed these days by the people who are "fighting for equality and freedom for all." "
Ah yes, how the white, Christian man suffers these days. Having to follow the separation of church and state is up there with watching your people being killed off in large numbers and being forced to live on a reservation or being lynched for looking the wrong way at white woman. Who wants equality; let's all just go back to the good old days when the white man ruled everybody else.
And we actually have a very large Caucasian club in the U.S.; it's called Congress. Oh but we have a black president now so I that means racism is over right. Except for, of course, "reverse racism" against white Christians.
10-03-2009 @ 3:11PM
Harold DeHart said...I agree with Sara, Elizabeth. Sharon and others that agree that this is "forced".. For those of you who question that, consider this. If I go to a game and am enjoying the typical pregame support and then see God and Christianity plastered on banners, then it is forced. Why does God and Christianity have to be brought into it. I pity the poor players who might not agree or that do not "believe". Should they be ostrasized. If you want God and Christianity in your lives, then practice it in your homes and church.
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10-03-2009 @ 3:20PM
Evelyn said...Wow! There are some very enlightened individuals posting here today!!
Our country was founded on the principles of RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. All religions are okay, or none are allowed is how it should be.
If you want your child to attend a school that values, supports, allows Christian prayer, send your child to a Christian school.
BUT, if your child is in a GOVERNMENT school (ie., public) they must abide by the secular nature of government teachings as mandated by the Separation of Church (religion) and State (government).
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