the rix mix

Bible verses banned from Ga. school football field

FORT OGLETHORPE, Ga. – The Warriors of Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High took the field on Friday night without any Bible verses written on the cheerleaders' banner.

Instead, the football team ran through a banner that read "This is Big Red Country" before each bent on a knee to pray on the field of Tommy Cash Stadium.

The spirited display comes after the school district banned the banners last week over concerns they were unconstitutional and could provoke a lawsuit, angering many in the deeply religious north Georgia town of Fort Oglethorpe.

"I'm just kind of unnerved about it," said 18-year-old Cassandra Cooksey, a recent graduate who often prayed with her fellow marching band members before football games. "It seems like the majority of people in our community want this and they don't have a problem with it, so I think they should be allowed to have the signs if they want to."

The move has galvanized the community. Hundreds of people attended a rally this week supporting the signs, which included messages such as: "Commit to the Lord, whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." Many students attended class Friday wearing shirts with Bible verses and painted their cars with messages that read: "Warriors for Christ."

During the game, several other messages were visible in the packed stadium. Some people stood with signs that read "You Can't Silence Us" and some young men had Bible verses painted on their chests.

I grew up in town & an era with a lot of religious - specifically Christian - expression in public schools & ceremonies now considered slippery when not unconstitutional. I don't think many people were bothered much by most of the forms it took, although reciting the Lord's Prayer along with the Pledge of Allegiance was totally wrong. But Fort Oglethorpe must be a town without any Roman Catholics in it, because this is oppressive & completely conservative protestant exhibitionism; it's tasteless, obnoxious, unneighborly behavior. Red state or blue state, North or South, these folks are messed up & nasty.

Labels: blogging against theocracy, in the news, religion