Posted on 08/22/2012 11:46:56 PM PDT by Hunton Peck
A Wisconsin-based group has accused a Georgia high school football coach of violating the First Amendment by allowing local churches to prepare meals for his team.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to the superintendent of Walker County Schools demanding an “immediate investigation” into Ridgeland High School football coach Mark Mariakis.
The FFRF is a Wisconsin-based group whose purpose is to “protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church.”
They are demanding the school system launch an investigation into allegations that Coach Mariakis allowed local churches to prepare pre-game meals for his football team. They also allege that the coach prayed with his team, used Bible verses in motivational speeches and on team shirts and participated in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
“Taking public school football teams to church, even for a meal, is unconstitutional,” wrote FFRF attorney Andrew Seidel. “This program is an egregious violation of the Establishment Clause and must cease immediately.”
Seidel said taking school children to churches and having ministers “present the Gospel of Jesus Christ” and having the food blessed “shatters the protections the First Amendment put in place.”
The Walker County School system released a statement acknowledging they have received the letter and are reviewing its contents.
The FFRF said a local individual complained about a longstanding tradition of local churches providing meals to the teenage football players on game day. The complainant said a minister would typically deliver remarks “about the Christian religion.”
“The fact that Mariakis visits several churches instead of one does not mitigate the violation,” Seidel wrote.
The Chattanooga Valley Baptist Church is scheduled to provide a meal for the football team in late October.
Richie White, the church’s youth director, said he was quite surprised to hear that an outside group had issues with feeding...
(Excerpt) Read more at radio.foxnews.com ...
>> Freedom From Religion Foundation
ACLU redux.
These divisive malcontents care not for the 1st Amendment nor Christianity.
BTW, FFRF, Christianity is not a religion.
Too bad you #ing morons didn’t decide on “Freedom From Faith Foundation”. Would have been a more illustrative representation of your idiotic intolerance.
>> that doesn’t completely get the difference between “freedom OF religion” and “freedom FROM religion.”
And of course there’s the “Climate Change” crowd formerly known as the failing “Global Warming” crowd.
Not the PETA of atheism but the WESTBORO BAPTIST Church of Atheism!
These people have become the WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH of atheism!
They’re SO hung up on symbolism that they can hardly imagine that a growing boy just wants to eat without all the so-called implications.
All they do is send threatening letters to other cities, towns, communities, and institutions, demanding investigations and hinting at expensive litigation. Instead of buckling, these places ought to just stand up and tell FFRF to go pound sand, especially since FFRF has no standing, period, to sue.
Madison’s Freedom From Religion folks messing with churches in other states ping...
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
They need to be sued for depriving others of their civil rights.
No wonder Liberals are crazy as bell tower bats.
It must be terrifying to live in Liberal Bizarro World where inanimate objects come alive, and of their own volition do things to hurt people.
Spoons make people fat (like Rosie 'O').
Guns go berserk and shoot people
SUV's go on terror sprees and run people down
Now we have churches that can prepare meals
Few people can explain what Madison intended with that clause or Jefferson’s letter to the Baptists. Can you?
freedom from government in our religion, not freedom from religion in our government.
There is a wall of separation “BUT” only in one direction, from government to religion. In the other direction there is no impediment at all.
Follow me on this. A Catholic hospital that will receive gov’t money because of Obamacare (or ClaireCare since she helped to pass it)is ‘feeding’(in other words caring for and nursing) a patient. Twisted logic and reasoning from a group like this would think that is unconstitutional. Sadly, this type of group think saturates our governmennt.
This just in: The FFRF has discovered that the team has to drive by several churches and a synagogue, on public, tax supported roads, to get to the games. They want an immediate investigation and an injunction.
These a-holes would fit right in, in the Soviet Union.
Unfortunately, once an interpretation has been made, it opens the door for further "movement" on whatever issue, which again leads to another, and so on, and the end result is this ridiculous situation. The plain words of the constitution are that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" which is clearly an injunction against the setting up of a State sponsored or approved religious structure aka England (and many other nations too as it happens). However, it can (and has) been interpreted to mean that the U.S. government should not prefer one religion over another, and therefore it is wrong for Public squares to have Christmas trees, as that way the State is "preferring" Christianity over other faiths. Of course, the ultimate result of this kind of interpretation is that ALL christian activity will be criminalised. Now as an interpretation this is clearly a stretch. There effectively WERE no non-Christian religions in the US when the Constitution was drafted and the fact that a time would come when there would be was not anticipated, or rather it wasn't exactly at the top of anyones agenda. But, this is an interpretation that suits the new hightly militant atheist movement. And that is the nub of the matter. They don't give a toss about the legal niceties of how society and State relate to each other. They are simply pushing their own agenda (the ultimate destruction of all religion) and this is a convenient tool to use to do that.
In our town the alums erected a five million dollar monument to the football team. It contains facilities for preparing and serving the 5 or 6 pre home game meals.
Note to Ms. Gaylor: you are going to be so surprised when you leave this mortal coil.
5.56mm
Today, He would be sued out of His sandals by the FFRF if He fed a hungry high school football team with 11 pizzas and a case of Pepsi.
We are living in the Theater of the Absurd.
Leni
When a church, synagogue, temple or other religious organization provides food for children in a government-run, secular school, is that the government “establishing” a particular religion?
No? Then ST*bleep*U, you insane busybodies!
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