Missouri’s Republican attorney general is defending a local high school football coach who came under fire for allegedly leading students in prayer.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation alleged that the high school football coach and assistant coach illegally lead students in prayer before and after games. In an October letter to the district, foundation attorney Chris Line wrote that the head coach violated the U.S. Constitution “because he endorses and promotes his religion when acting in his official capacity as a school district employee.”
The establishment clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from favoring one religion over others.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt in a letter to the district this week blasted the foundation as “an extreme anti-religion organization that seeks to intimidate local governments into surrendering their citizens’religious freedom and to expunge any mention of religion from the public square.”
“I write to assure you that the Establishment Clause does not prohibit public prayer and that the First Amendment protects the rights of public-school students to engage in voluntary prayer in public spaces,” Schmitt wrote to the district superintendent. “In fact, public invocations to God constitute a cherished part of our national history.”
Schmitt added that if the foundation “seeks to silence voluntary prayer outside of Cameron’s football games through a lawsuit, we will support your football team’s lawful, voluntary decision to pray.”
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