The cheerleaders of Georgia’s Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School appear to be short a cheer for separation of church and state doctrine. They have triggered a constitutional controversy by using Biblical verses as part of their displays to root for the football team to “commit to the Lord” and “take courage and do it.”
The players would break through paper signs with the Biblical verses but local youth minister Brad Scott insists that they “are not trying to push a religious cause, to shove religion down someone’s throat. The cheerleaders are just using Scripture to show motivation and inspiration to the players and the fans.” I wonder how parents would feel about some heartening Muslim passages like “He is the Mighty, the Wise One” or “The fate of each man We have bound about his neck.”
The school system received a complaint and found correctly that it constitutes “a violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution for signs with Bible verses to be displayed on the football field.”
This has led to a backlash among parents who demand that the Bible be brought back to the football field.
If the verses are reintroduced, they might want to go with a few with a bit more kick:
“You . . . will also be slaughtered by my sword.” (Zephaniah 2:12-15)
“They shall be apportioned for foxes.” (Psalm 63: 11)
“Be patient; the time is coming soon. (Zephaniah 2:12-15)
“When he raises himself up, the mighty fear; Because of the crashing they are bewildered.” (Job 41:1-34)
“The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem and captured it, killing all its people and setting the city on fire.” (Judges 1:1-8)
Fort Oglethorpe Mayor Ronnie Cobb insists that he is “against them doing away with it” and that “[i]f it’s offensive to anyone, let them go watch another football game. Nobody’s forced to come there and nobody’s forced to read the signs.” Now, there is an intriguing standard: if you do not want Jesus with your football, do not come and watch the game or your children. So much for Zechariah 13:3 “If a man still prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall say to him, ‘You shall not live, because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord.’ When he prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall thrust him through.”
What maddens me is that the high school left out one of my favorite country music songs:
For the full story, click here.
Give me a L-A-W-S-U-I-T! Yeah!!!
And maybe an injunction over that terrible Bobby Bare song.
Welcome to our religious technocracy. Try not to learn anything useful.
Georgia Drop Kicks Jesus. Amen, brother and sistas of the Holy Shrine of the unholy swine. Let us drink some wine and see how divine the swine are tonight.
Are you lonesome tonight, can we play out of site. Hey baby, your pen or mine.
I’m not sure what to do but laugh.
This message sponsored by “Go, Jesus, Go!” and their parent company, “The T&A Council for a #1 Jesus”(tm)
I think the school should have inspiring verses from every religion and inspirational secular sayings, as should the opposing school at every football game. Each group’s signs should be tracked and tallied. Whichever set of sayings wins the most games, it shall be mandated that this god or no-god, will be the official religion/or secular abolishment of all religions. of all schools in the state. Instead of god deciding winners of football games, it’s time for the strongest god/dess, no -god to decide who gets the glory!!!
Buddha,
“The T&A Council for a #1 Jesus”(tm), yeah right.
Man-o-man. I wish I had a daughter who cheered for a rival team. I’d be in the garage right now helping her and her friends paint their “Hail Satan” posters.
you rock, seamus
I wonder how long it will be until there is a local critical mass in a town, maybe in Michigan, to have a Muslim super majority where they can take these arguments and precedents and run with them. They’d have school system paid coaches leading Islamic prayers before games, use school system money to print up the big paper banners with the Koranic verses to run through and use the school system money to buy the burkas for the cheerleaders. (Yes, my tongue is planted firmly in my cheek.)
I can just hear the wailing of an aggrieved parent on the 700 Club! “Oh, I was just horrified, simply horrified that my tax dollars were being used to promote a religion at our public school! I have had to start homeschooling our poor son Shadrach because he feels oppressed at school! Well, no, no one has actually threatened him, but the message is clear that Islam is the dominant religion at the school. It’s simply un-American!”
It would sure put poor Jay Sekulow, the “ACLJ” and the “Regent University” “Law School” in one heck of a quandary.
Hmmm…. This would make for a fun mockumentary….
Hmmm… How about the atheist town’s public school cheerleaders?
They wouldn’t exactly “cheer”, but rather stand on the sidelines, smoke clove cigarettes, adjust their black berets, and recite overly complicated “cheers” along the lines of “Due to your reliance on mauvaise foi, you fail to accept personal responsibility for your actions and as a result of this self-deception, you will not play at your optimum level. go team – if you choose to go.” They might then perform a Heideggerian interpretive mime/dance that enacts the moment in which a player on the opposing team briefly realizes the inevitability of his own death, thereby shattering the taken-for-granted, which in turn, causes him to drop the ball.
(Sorry – quite off topic, but I do crack myself up!)
>stand on the sidelines, smoke clove cigarettes
That’d be nice, but the FDA just banned those things. Might as well smoke marijuana now.
People actually smoked clove cigarettes? Next you’re going to tell me that people actually drink PBR and don’t just use it as some hipster prop.
I used to love those things…smelled great when they were burning & girls found them intriguing for some reason. But since they’re made overseas there’s no telling what is in those things besides the tobacco & flavor. Still I miss ‘em.
How about Ezekiel 23:20?
Someone help me on this: There was a bill in the House of Delegates in Virginia a few years ago to allow Christian prayer at sports events. All was fine until someone pointed out that it would have to apply to ANY religion (or not:)) that wanted to pray out loud at the events. At that point, the pro-religious-bill-right became the oh-my-god-the-muslims-could-do-it-to! and started arguing AGAINST the bill on the radio…it would have been funny if it wasn’t such a sad commentary on politics and religion in the country….
Ezekiel 23:20?
“There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.”
Zowie! How did I get through adolescence not knowing that one?
seamus,
I’m going to cheer for Satan as well. If he wins, think of the benefits. Some churches will simply be sacked
. Temples, mosques, churches, the stray grove hear and there–all under new management. The courts? Well most atheists worship Satan anyway and the judges are already wearing black robes, so not much change there, but still there would be some new plaques and large stone replacements.
It could be interesting if the aliens win. Large pyramids may start appearing everywhere and we’ll all get our razor blades sharpened for free. What’s not to like?
Can you imagine the uproar if a bunch of jews were kicked out?
Where is FauxNews defending these Christians?