The Florida House has passed a bill that would force the Florida High School Athletic Association to let schools publicly broadcast prayers before games.
“The FHSAA shall adopt bylaws or policies that require, prior to the start of all athletic events conducted under the direction and supervision of the FHSAA, including but not limited to Florida High School State Championship Series events, that each participating school be provided 30 seconds for opening remarks over the public-address system,” the legislation reads.
Such opening remarks could include a prayer. Retired Florida State University football coach Tommy Bowden penned an opinion piece earlier this week advocating for prayer before games, saying, “Prayer and football have always gone together.”
“In our coaching days, it was typical for us to join in family prayers on recruiting trips. Those same parents who were leading those prayers expected us, as coaches, to see to it that their boys behaved themselves at college. ‘Behaving’ meant they were to continue to go to church, make good decisions and pray,” he wrote.
The issue first arose in 2015 when the FHSAA argued that the Cambridge Christian School of Tampa could not broadcast a prayer before a game against the University Christian School of Jacksonville because the microphone was owned by the state and would thus violate the Constitution.
“The First Amendment protects the rights of students and teachers at a private Christian school to pray before a football game, especially when both teams are Christian and have a tradition of prayer before games,” said Jeremy Dys, of the nonprofit law firm First Liberty Institute, which is representing the Cambridge Christian School.
The state Senate, which is controlled by Republicans, is also considering the bill. If it passes the chamber, the legislation would need Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s signature to become law.
