Football teams walk fine line of religion in schools

Some football coaches and players can recite a playbook front to back. They sleep with it. They eat with it. They take it wherever they go.

After all, a team’s success greatly hinges on the playbook.

There are coaches and players, though, who strongly believe their ultimate success depends on the X’s and O’s of a more powerful book, the Holy Bible. And that faith can often be found in huddles inside locker rooms and out on the field.

“We end every practice with the Lord’s prayer,” Hemingway assistant coach Bucky Davis said. “Before and after every game, we do the Lord’s prayer, and we try to do a devotion every week.”

“Personally, I don’t like the wor
d ‘religion.’ I prefer relationship,” The King’s Academy coach Marcel Boggs said. “We have a working relationship with God, and that’s a lifetime thing.

“That is more important than the game itself.”

Some high schools have prayer or a moment of silence before games, a practice which has drawn the ire of civil rights groups around the country.

“(Prayer at school functions) is a controversial subject, and depending on what part of the country you live in, it is a lightning rod. The South is called the ‘Bible Belt’ for a reason,” former Wilson High principal Dr. Allie Brooks said. “When I was principal, we had prayers at football games until they told us not to.”

A higher set of laws

In 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prayer in schools was unconstitutional. To counter the high court’s ruling, 29 states passed laws enacting moments of silence.

Code 54, section 1-443 of the South Carolina constitution allows a “mandatory moment of silence at the beginning of each school day or event.”

Yet in 2000, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling invalidating prayers conducted over the public address system prior to high school games at state school facilities before a school-gathered audience.

“When we were told not to (hold prayer before football games), we switched to a moment of silence,” Brooks said. “We have to be sensitive to the fact that there are several religions out there.”

Wilson coach Darryl Page said that while he and his school try to obey the laws set by the courts, he prefers to live by a higher code of laws and ethics.

“If you look at this history of Wilson High School, it was established as a Freedman’s Bureau school,” he said. “This school has survived World Wars and segregation and throughout it all, it has kept its identity.

“From my perspective, how could all that happen if God didn’t have his hands on it? There’s no way.”

Most coaches will tell you that religious devotions are voluntary.

“We still pray before games,” Page said. “It’s strictly an option with every player.”

Not much of a problem

Legal ramification of prayer on the field is a problem the South Carolina Independent School Association doesn’t have to deal with.

The King’s Academy and all other SCISA schools are not affected by the Supreme Court’s 1962 and 2000 rulings. For the Lions, religion is a way of life. In fact, the team holds bible study during football camp each summer.

“At some schools, they pray after every game. We pray before a game and after the game,” Lions senior quarterback Ryan Hewitt said. “We don’t pray for a win. We pray that injuries are avoided and that everyone plays their best.”

“This game is temporary,” Boggs said. “The only people that will remember what we do in 10 years is us.

“The Bible says our true treasures are in heaven. Religion is very important (at The King’s Academy).”

Even if private schools weren’t exempt from the Court’s rulings, Boggs and his players say they would still subscribe to the teachings of Jesus Christ and his disciples.

“(This game’s) not about winning and losing. We’re representing our Lord Jesus Christ,” Hewitt said. “We’re not just players and athletes. We’re representatives.”

“My faith is not a conditional faith based on where I am right now,” Boggs said. “While we have laws separating church and state, this is still one nation under God. And that has not been stricken from the constitution.”

Running plays, saving souls

In July, coaches and players from across South Carolina descended upon the campus of USC-Upstate in Spartanburg to better their games and themselves.

During a three-day Fellowship of Christian Athletes football camp, teams did 7-on-7 drills and lineman challenges. But the camp also served another purpose — to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nightly devotions were held, and many players turned over their lives to honoring Christ.

“We’ve done it two years in a row, and it’s the best thing we ever did,” Hemingway coach Ken Cribb said. “We brought 36 kids (to Spartanburg) and 32 of them gave themselves to Christ.”

“We went to church as a team one time and I found out that many of our kids had never seen the inside of a church,” Lamar coach J.R. Boyd said. “We went to FCA camp as well and many of my kids were saved in the process.”

Many coaches have reported that team camaraderie has increased significantly after attending FCA camp.

“As Christians, we want to let everyone hear the gospel. As teachers and coaches, we have to watch what we say most time,” Davis said. “But I will say that FCA camp is the best team-building opportunity a team can have.”

Answering the critics

Critics of things like an FCA camp might say religion is being forced down the throats of impressionable players who fear reprisal from coaches and teammates if they choose not to conform. Others might say religion in high school football violates the separation of church and state that the law supports.

But the coaches and players who mix their faith with their football say that’s not the case.

“Everyone’s welcome to their own opinions,” Davis said. “We don’t force anyone to do anything. The kids (convert to Christ) out of their own free will.”

“Unfortunately, not everyone is a believer,” Brooks said. “Those who do believe know who woke us up in the morning and gave us riches. Not necessarily financial riches, but the riches of life and good health.”

Boyd says he’s just trying to “produce well-rounded, well-disciplined American citizens.”

“This country was founded on the principles of God,” he said. “It’s very hard to put a disciplined, moral team on the field year in and year out. Today’s society is not Christ-centered, so each player has to find the Lord inside each of them.”