AL District Agrees to End Pre-Game Prayers

Responding to a letter of complaint from the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), the Superintendent of the Arab, Alabama school system, John Mullins, has announced that football games will now begin with a moment of silence rather than the customary pre-game prayer. In a report by WAAY-TV, Mullins explained his decision as follows: “Yes in our personal lives in Arab we are Christian but our priority is to serve the students of this school system and provide them education....And we at this time can't commit the energy and time and financial resources to battle a case we most likely will not win ....We wish we could continue praying but we can't."  Pre-game prayer of this kind was recognized as an Establishment Clause violation in Santa Fe Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Doe, 530 U.S. 290 (2000) but persists in a number of resitant communities.   

JFB