NFL players from the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans pray for Damar Hamlin before their game on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023. (Video screenshot)
The Florida High School Athletic Association is being accused of making out that prayer is "dangerous" or "wrong" with its ban on a pre-game prayer leading up to a high-school championship game between two Christian schools.
It is First Liberty Institute that, with other legal teams, is arguing in court on behalf of Cambridge Christian School.
And, it explains, "the constitutional right to pray over the loudspeaker at the beginning of the state championship football game between two Christian schools."
"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, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute. "By banning the pre-game prayer over the loudspeaker, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) sent a message to these students that prayer is wrong and something you should be ashamed of. That is dangerous and unconstitutional."
The case is pending at a federal appeals court now.
Jesse Panuccio, of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, explained, "For seven years, the FHSAA has defended its unconstitutional prayer ban on the mistaken theory that permitting two Christian schools to pray over the religion would violation the Establishment Clause. The Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment means that the government can tolerate religion without endorsing it."
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It was in 2015 that the association banned Cambridge from praying over the loudspeaker at the Citrus Bowl ahead of the title game.
"The FHSAA stated that because the stadium was city-owned and the FHSAA a government actor, it would violate the Constitution to allow two private Christian schools to pray over the stadium loudspeaker for less than a minute," the institute reported.
In 2019, 11th Circuit ruled that Cambridge Christian School’s argument that its free speech and free exercise rights were violated have merit and should proceed.
But then in 2022, a lower court issued a judgment favoring the association, so the case is pending before the 11th Circuit again.
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