Atheists are targeting a School District after a Pastor publicly prayed for a seriously injured football player.
When a high school football player in Tennessee suffered a severe blow during a game last September and was down on the ground for 30 minutes unable to move his legs, a local youth pastor led the crowd anxiously standing around the young man in prayer.
But that invocation, which was intended to put the crowd and the young man at ease, while also seeking divine intervention for the injured teen, sparked a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an atheist activist group based in Wisconsin.
The group reportedly argued that the prayer, led by Bayside Baptist Church pastor Eric Dill, involved public school coaches as well as students at Central and East Ridge High School, and, thus, was held in violation of the Constitution.
District officials recently responded to the complaint, pledging to offer additional trainings to staff and saying the coaches didn’t know that bowing their heads would be seen as a prayer endorsement.
But Dill told WRCB-TV that he had no ill intention with his prayer, and that he doesn’t believe the coaches meant anything offensive concerning their own participation in the invocation; he added that he only prayed after he was asked by one of the players.
On a more positive note: The injured student reportedly made a full recovery afterward.