A Michigan high school banned its football team from kneeling in prayer after big games after the American Civil Liberties Union launched an investigation into the team’s 11-year-old tradition.
The ACUL’s investigation led officials to find that Lahser High School football coach Dan Loria was not, in fact, leading the team in prayer, but was merely present for it. Even though the prayer was found to be student-led, it was still banned. Loria took the blame for the controversy.
“When it comes to discipline, whatever you allow, you encourage,” Loria told The Oakland Press. “By me being present, I was encouraging it. This happened because of me and I had to wake up.”
The ACLU suggested that prayer could alienate students who do not share the same beliefs.
Fox News contributor Father Jonathan Morris said that the prayer shouldn’t be enforced, but he doesn’t think it should be banned either.
“The school should not establish that after the game now is the time for everyone to pray,” Morris said. “But should football coaches or students be allowed to pray after a high school football game? Of course. … Just nobody is supposed to be leading or forcing you to do that.”
Fox News compared the high school’s tradition to NFL player Tim Tebow’s signature pose of taking a knee after scoring a touchdown, calling their story “Michigan High School Bans ‘Tebowing‘.”
Some students voiced their concern about the ban, fearing that taking away the team’s “ritual” could hurt their performance.
“Rituals are an important part of the game and staying focused and preforming your best, so I don’t know what it meant to them but it could have an impact on their game,” Blaine Stannard, a student at the school, told NBC-affiliate WDIV-TV.
Although prayer in public schools was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court 50 years ago, it is an issue that continues to be debated, and American opinion is split over how far schools should take it. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center poll, 65 percent of people said, “liberals have gone too far in trying to keep religion out of schools and the government.” While around 48 percent of those surveyed told Pew that, “conservative Christians have gone too far in trying to impose religious values on the country.”
