Cheerleaders Display Biblical Verses on Banners Because America
LatestThank the Lawd! Cheerleaders of a Texan High School just won a hard-fought battle against sinners: a judge has ruled that the cheerleaders can temporarily continue their official game ritual and hold their Bible banners up. Yay, it’s religious freedom.
Kountze High School (pronounced Cuntze High School?) raised a few eyebrows last year when their cheerleaders displayed huge banners with biblical verses during football games. Just like how Jesus Christ would envision it, football players would burst through these banners like white doves while entering the football field to win for God. Win four times and lose fives times in the 2012 season, that is. It’s like Al Pacino’s “inch by inch” speech but more like” if God is for us who can be against us?”, which means that the devil must have won five times last year (and played a total of nine games).
A parent complained to the Superintendent last year under the full understanding that a public school during a public event cannot endorse a religion. The Superintendent, Kevin Weldon, put a stop to these banners after the parent complained. These two are such a freedom-haters.
This ban on biblical banners put the fire in the belly of the predominantly Christian high school and town. A Facebook page called “Support Kountze Kids Faith” (they seriously could not have thought of a better name? How about “Kountze Me In For Faith”? No?) was created immediately after the Superindentent’s decision. It now has more than 45 thousand members of conservative Christians who are kountzing themselves (sorry) in the fight. All of them believe that the First Amendment protects these cheerleaders’ right to express religious freedom. Their inability to do so, according to the supporters, is a blatant attack on Christianity.
The cheerleaders took a lawsuit up to their district court. District judge Steve Thomas ruled in the cheerleaders’ favor and allowed them to display the banners until a trial, which is set for this June.
The judge’s decision received praise from current Governor and former Presidential candidate Rick Perry, who saluted the bravery of these girls in their so-called fight for religious freedom. Perry also probably did not have anything to do with his life. But why? Why would the judge think that a public school essentially endorsing and proliferating a religion is a practice of religious freedom?
In the decision, the judge stated:
Neither the Establishment Clause nor any other laws prohibits the cheerleaders from using religious-themed banners at school sporting events. Neither the Establishment Clause nor any other law requires Kountze I.S.D. to prohibit the inclusion of religious themed banners at school sporting events.
Come on Judge, do you really need John Adams, Alexander Hamilton and all the writers of the Constitution to spell it out for you? Would you be able to judge cases easier if Amendment One continued with: And no cheerleader of a public institution shall have the righteous right to be a douchebag and impose religion at a public event, sponsored by federally- and state-funded institutions, to others underneath the flag of “religious liberty.”
America.
If only this kind of passion and conviction was employed to fight for really, truly all religious freedom and not just Christian priviledge.
Considering the team’s football record (they were 3-7 in 2009 – 2011), perhaps it’s a really comforting thing to pray for God to understand their losses and to inspire wins. Well, good for them. But making their religion an official part of a public game is not how you do it. If you have a hard time understanding why this is wrong, then think of it in these terms: would it be religious freedom if the cheerleaders were Muslim and the banners featured passages from the Koran? Probably not. That’s real religious freedom.