T-Shirts and Ted Cruz: Escalating The Holy War Over Religion In Public School Sports

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/bobcook/2014/04/25/t-shirts-and-ted-cruz-escalating-the-holy-war-over-religion-in-public-school-sports/

Bob Cook Contributor
I write about youth sports.

4/25/2014 @ 4:42PM 297 views

The impending removal of a Bible verse from just about anything associated with the Parkersburg (W. Va.) South High School wrestling program represents, in the eyes of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, things progressing as they should when the Madison, Wisc.-based atheistic organization is requested by someone locally to address a complaint of an unholy mix of government and religion.

In mid-April, the foundation sent a letter to the school requesting that it take down all references to a Bible verse on the wrestling wall, web site and team T-shirts. Within a few days the district scrubbed Philippians 4:13 off the website and announced plans to repaint the wrestling room. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” is a statement that the Wood County Schools figures won’t wash legally when it comes to explicitly or tacitly approved religious displays. The foundation can give cover for locals making that decision. The idea is that the organization can serve as a flak-catcher in these situations, so the complainer is not the focus of anger (that name isn’t revealed in initial communications), and the district can blame it for forcing the school to do something, sigh, it didn’t really want to do.

“We simply seek to have the school come into compliance and to do so without the need for litigation,” foundation staff attorney Patrick Elliott said in an email. “Most school administrators make changes and that ends the matter.” Elliott estimated that about 350 school-related complaints have come to his organization just in 2014. (The most prominent complaint of recent weeks is against religious activity alleged fomented by Clemson University football coach Dabo Swinney.) But only three complaints — from all years — are currently in foundation-driven litigation, he said.

Not all is over yet at Parkersburg South. Parents are pushing back against getting rid of the T-shirts – or preventing future printings of them — that contain the Bible verse, saying they paid for them, not the school. This could put the Wood County school district between the proverbial rock and hard place. If the school doesn’t do something about then T-shirts, then maybe the Freedom From Religion Foundation gets involved. (It hasn’t stated a course of action.) But if it does ban the T-shirts, then it could get sued — by the parents.

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