In Florida, a Christian school was told its football team could not pray at its recent championship game.
Tim Euler, the Head of Cambridge Christian, told Todd Starnes of Fox News that Prayer is important at his school. They train their students that prayer is foundational to their walk with Christ and that their faith is founded in prayer. That’s why for years, they’ve begun every game with an on field prayer
So when the school’s football team faced off against University Christian School last December in the 2A state championship football game, they asked the Florida High School Athletic Association if they could begin with a word of prayer.
The FHSAA said no.
They told both Christian schools that offering a pre-game prayer was against the law – that it could be viewed as an endorsement of religion since the schools would be praying on government property.
Jeremy Dys, an attorney with Liberty Institute, called the claim, “ridiculous” adding, “We’ve got two Christian schools being told they can’t pray.”
Liberty Institute, a law firm that specializes in religious liberty issues, is representing Cambridge Christian.
Dys said it was the FHSAA that broke the law when they forbade the Christian schools from praying last December at the Citrus Bowl saying it was the “state trying to impose strictures upon the church,” h
Liberty Institute sent a demand letter to the FHSAA demanding a written apology for what they call a “gross violation” of the law. Should they fail to do so, the law firm has threatened to file a federal lawsuit.
The FHSAA has yet to respond.