Okay, this is just silly. Apparently, the Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School in Georgia has a long-standing tradition of their cheerleaders writing Bible verses on signs to inspire the football players at games. Recently, a complaint was filed with the district stating that the signs were in violation of the separation of church and state, since they violate federal law by "promoting religion at a school function."
In response, the school has designated a special area on the school's front lawn for any religious-themed signs, and organizers hope to see students turn out in full force. Principal Jerry Ransom said, ""We've designated an area to hold the 'run-through' signs outside the stadium for those who want to display Christian signs or Muslim signs or whatever they want to do... We've got a big front yard here, and we're going to try and accommodate everyone."
Now, despite Ransom's message of inclusiveness, I'm honestly wondering how many Muslim students at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe are going to be out there holding signs up. Really, is there anything in the Quran about football Friday nights? And how will Ransom feel if a gaggle of Pagan students show up with a sign saying "Go kick ass in the name of Thor! Yay team!"
More importantly, why does religion even need to be on the signs? What happened to "Go Team!" and "We've got spirit!" and stuff like that? Do football players really need to run through a sign containing a religious message?
What's interesting is if you read the comments in the article, it's clear that most of the people interviewed -- okay, all of them -- just don't get it. They're seeing everything through that Dominant Religion Lens Filter, and they really think that they're being oppressed. Cheerleader Taylor Quinn is "sad and angry", because she thinks "we were silenced for what we believe in." No, Taylor, honey, you were silenced because it's against the law for your school to promote one religion over another.
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In response, the school has designated a special area on the school's front lawn for any religious-themed signs, and organizers hope to see students turn out in full force. Principal Jerry Ransom said, ""We've designated an area to hold the 'run-through' signs outside the stadium for those who want to display Christian signs or Muslim signs or whatever they want to do... We've got a big front yard here, and we're going to try and accommodate everyone."
Now, despite Ransom's message of inclusiveness, I'm honestly wondering how many Muslim students at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe are going to be out there holding signs up. Really, is there anything in the Quran about football Friday nights? And how will Ransom feel if a gaggle of Pagan students show up with a sign saying "Go kick ass in the name of Thor! Yay team!"
More importantly, why does religion even need to be on the signs? What happened to "Go Team!" and "We've got spirit!" and stuff like that? Do football players really need to run through a sign containing a religious message?
What's interesting is if you read the comments in the article, it's clear that most of the people interviewed -- okay, all of them -- just don't get it. They're seeing everything through that Dominant Religion Lens Filter, and they really think that they're being oppressed. Cheerleader Taylor Quinn is "sad and angry", because she thinks "we were silenced for what we believe in." No, Taylor, honey, you were silenced because it's against the law for your school to promote one religion over another.
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I live about 25-30 miles from Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School. Being a witch and living in the south can be… interesting.
Anyway, being from “this neck o’ the woods”, I thought I should explain how people around here think. You see, Jesus actually cares about high school football, and he pretty much ALWAYS wants your team to win. Which is why teams pray for victory and politely thank Yahweh and/or Jesus if they do.
The Lord works in mysterious ways!
Ken is really right here. In the South Jesus cares about everything from high school football to what color curtains my grandma hangs in her living room (ask her about that if you like..)
This is so silly…I wonder whats going on here in the South lately. First my school insist that we say the pledge of allegiance again (and I have no problem with that, i say the pledge every morning with everyone else; wiccans can be proud to be americans too!)
Then there was a comment someone at my school made to me about “I can join the fellowship of christian atheltes without being an athelte but I do have to be a christian…and now stuff like this is happening.
Does my school prey at football games…I don’t think so, I never go to them. But this is getting totally crazy.
And Taylor isn’t being silenced for what she believes in, she doesnt know what thats like, she probably never will.
This is why I love this site. You guys always make me grin.
Ken – I wonder how Jesus finds the time to pay attention to high school football? Because clearly he spends his Saturdays rooting for the Ohio State Buckeyes!
Cadence – You’re right — little Taylor will probably never really be silenced for her beliefs. The sad part is that she’ll never even be aware of it.
patti
The article said that these banners have been only since 9-11 so they seem to me to be a backhanded way of denigrating Muslims. It seems they are using the excuse of encouraging athletes in order to promote a different agenda. I hope that these people don’t actually think that Jesus cares about football or their own team (each and every one of them, which would seem a conflict of interest to say the least! lol) per se. I understand using biblical sayings to encourage excellence in general, though. I just hope that if someone makes a banner using non biblical pithy sayings that they are not treated disrespectfully. And wow nothing like making a mountain out of a molehill! Moving banners of any and all ideologies to a specific lawn hardly seems to me like a specific silencing of Christian cheerers! Overreact much do we there Taylor? Guess who gets my vote for Drama Queen come prom time!
So, um, a little random, but did anyone else notice all the typographical mistakes in that article?
Even the sign was misquoted, in spite of it being right there in the picture.
Some of the grammar was a little weird too…
Anyways, I guess there’s no real point to that, other than that journalism is going to Hell.
Really, is there anything in the Quran about football Friday nights?
No, but then again, there’s nothing in the Bible about football Friday nights either, last I checked.
I checked the Havamal (from the Poetic Edda), too — there’s some stuff in there about courage and strength and fighting, but all of it refers to *real* swords and spears, not for a game with lots of safety rules…. Still, “Go kick ass in the name of Thor!” has a nice ring to it!
Anyone remember that SNL skit from about 10 years ago, about the woman who prayed for Jesus to help her with every little thing she did? “Jesus, please help my dishes get squeaky clean” sort of things. Well, Jesus shows up, and tells her that she needs to knock it off, since he’s missing things like saving people in natural disasters and wars because he’s answering her requests for the coffee to be hot or the dishes to get clean, or her kids to get to school on time. It was one of the funniest skits ever, and also one of the most touching.
Although my favorite SNL skit ever is still the Royal Deluxe II, where the car has such a smooth ride that Rabbi Taklas can perform a circumcision while riding over a bumpy road.
One other point…it isn’t a violation of their ability to practice their religion, since I’ve never heard of a Christian sect that requires adherents to make large runthrough signs with bible quotes as a part of their religious practice. Big flashy public displays of one’s piety are not a requirement for any Christian sect that I’m aware of (some of the Catholic pagentry may be, but those things are usually part of religious festivals, not high school football games).
The team is 4-2 this year, so I don’t know if divine intervention is really necessary.
“In response, the school has designated a special area on the school’s front lawn for any religious-themed signs…”
On the school’s front lawn….then they are still promoting their religion on school property. Their location hasn’t changed a thing. I’m just sayin…
DaBroad, SNL’s “Church Lady” (Dana Carvey) has been the culprit of many near-pants-wetting for me. TMI? Sorry…
“I guess I’m just a little bit superior to you!”
:: launches into Superiority Dance::
Try living in the “buckle” of the Bible Belt – Greenville, SC – home of Bob Jones University, which we all know is “ever so tolerant of other’s beliefs” (try not to slip on the sarcasm oozing out of that statement)
I actually live just a few miles away from Fort O. and recently wrote a paper about this issue in my college English class.
Ken is exactly right, it’s pretty rediculous how this whole thing got so blown out of proportion. People are seriously pissed because they can’t include Christianity with football. I never really saw the correlation, but apparently these football players claimed that the scriptures were inspirational…
The only thing that makes me stop and think about this is the fact that the Cheerleaders used their own money to make the signs and no school officials were involved, but during football games cheerleaders and players alike are representing the school and to blatenly advertize religious beliefs like this is not very welcoming to someone who believes differently.
Of course Lakeview is pretty much homogeneous gathering of Southern Babtists, I doubt that no ammount of sepperation of Church and State is going to get to these people.
I actually go to LFO (noone says its full name) and I think the whole thing is stupid. A friend and I went to a rally, she was holding a sign that said “This is stupid” and I held a sign that said “Shut up and get over it.” Some chick took our signs and sat on them. There really is no getting through to these people. They are hard headed and unwilling to accept the fact that if the rest of the country can’t do it, niether can they.