Most of the public school coaches' arguments found in this thread supporting pre-game prayer at state sponsored events can also be found in the decisions of various courts throughout the country including those decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. Most, if not all, of those arguments were found to fail the tests of the "Establishment Clause". (TK, you will even find the argument based on "majority of players".)
Meredith, while I applaud the passion of your conviction of faith, the problem I, and possibly the Constitution, have with "we have to set aside our differences to be of one mind" relative to prayer is... who's "one mind". Although there seems to be some debate here, I do not believe the founding fathers believed ANYONE should be required by the state (which you represent if you coach at a public school) to "set aside our differences to be of one mind", when "one mind" is based on religion. The player/band member ritual is secular in nature, the pre-game prayer is non-secular. Apples and oranges when discussing the First Amendment.
Coaches, to get an idea of maybe why all of those court decisions came about ask yourself when was the last time your team's pre-game prayer was led in Yiddish. Perhaps pre-game prayer was a Buddhist chant, Gregorian chant, a meditation?
Someone here included in his/her post "I'm not a lawyer". Neither am I, but the father of the Jewish player from my carpool I spoke of is. Perhaps the state supported high school she attended decided to segregate mandatory secular and non-mandatory non-secular team events as I described in recognition of his career field. Or, maybe that particular high school had a greater understanding of the Constitution and respect for those court decisions regarding constitutionality than other schools around the state.
I think "I'm not a Lawyer" is significant here. From what I've been reading in the various court decisions, I would suggest the coaches at public high schools consult with the Legal office of the SC State Education System. Ask the state's attorneys their thoughts on public school's pre-game prayer activities. TK, they can't "fire you for believing in Jesus Christ", but it looks like they could do more than fire you for pre-game prayer activities.
We have some wonderful high school coaches in SC. I wouldn't want to lose them. But, from what I'm reading here and in the various decisions many of you could be one player away from losing the opportunity to coach those teams you care so deeply about.
Personally, I've never needed a coach to know when I should or shouldn't engage in prayer. And I've never needed a coach to teach me how.
