Guest Post by Morbo
A federal appeals court in Philadelphia this week heard arguments in a case involving a public school football coach who wants to pray with his team.
Marcus Borden of East Brunswick, N.J., claims he just wants to show respect for his players by going down on one knee and bowing his head while they pray. But court documents show that Borden has a long history of promoting Christian religious worship among students, cheerleaders and others. For many years, he either personally led prayer before games or brought in a minister to lead them.
Borden often used this prayer. I found it very interesting:
“[D]ear Lord, please guide us today in our quest, in our game, our championship. Give us the courage and determination that we would need to come out successful. Please let us represent our families and our community well. Lastly, please guide our players and opponents so that they can come out of this game unscathed, no one is hurt.”
It’s nice that Borden prays that no one will get hurt, but note that this request comes after an appeal for victory. God is asked to help the team “come out successful.” I interpret that as, “Let us win.”
This case has many disturbing features. Cheerleaders who complained about the prayers were tarred as “Jewish cheerleaders” and exposed to anti-Semitism. Borden, when told to stop praying with the players, arranged for them to take a vote on having prayer. Everyone knew where the coach stood, so of course the vote was in favor. One boy later told his mother that he opposed the prayers but feared being kept out of the game if he voted no.
All of that is bad, but I keep going back to that prayer.
It’s a prayer for victory in an ultimately meaningless high school football game. No religious person who takes faith seriously would dare approach the supreme force of the universe with such a picayune request.
Arguments against official prayer in public schools tend to focus on how religious minorities or non-believers might feel. Those are compelling, of course, but there is a deeper issue that too many Christians gloss over when they argue that a little prayer never hurt anyone: Why would we wish to turn religious instruction over to people who are not qualified?
Borden is a coach and a Spanish instructor. He is not a theologian or a minister. As a result, he leads his team in prayers for victory. A more thoughtful religious person — someone who actually studied theology or took the time to get ordained (at a real institution, not a fundamentalist academy) — could explain why such prayers are offensive and make for bad religion.
People who believe teacher-led school prayer is no big deal should pay attention to this case. Every parent should be concerned when an unqualified person takes on the task of imparting religious education to children. You never know what they might be telling the youngsters it’s OK to pray for.