http://www.au.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=24121.0&dlv_id=13781&JServSessionIdr008=ylwwml1rp1.app7b
Federal Appeals Court To Hear Arguments In Key Case Challenging Coach
Involvement In School Prayer
N.J. Case Will Be Argued Wednesday, Oct. 3, At Federal Courthouse In
Philadelphia
A federal appeals court in Philadelphia will hear oral arguments on
Wednesday, Oct. 3, in an important case challenging a public school
football coach’s involvement in prayer with his team.
At issue before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Borden v. School
District of the Township of East Brunswick is whether New Jersey high
school football coach Marcus Borden has the right to encourage or promote
prayer among members of his team.
“Coach Borden is supposed to focus on how his students play, not how they
pray,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director.
“This coach has a long history of meddling in the religious lives of
players and others. He has overstepped his bounds, and the court should
uphold the school district’s right to rein him in.”
Borden, a coach and Spanish instructor at East Brunswick High School,
asserts he merely wants to bow his head and go down on one knee as a way to
show respect while the players engage in voluntary prayer. Americans
United, which is defending the school district, charges that Borden has a
long history of promoting prayer and other religious activities in the
past. The religious practices Borden promoted for 23 years, AU says, are
not voluntary.
Borden won a lower court ruling last year, when a federal judge accepted
his argument that his actions were not religious in nature. The decision
was significant because it marked the first time a federal court had
approved such activities.
The appeal is important because it will determine if that ruling survives.
If Borden is allowed to promote prayer among players, other coaches,
teachers and school officials will undoubtedly try to do the same in other
parts of the country.
In legal briefs, AU attorneys document Borden’s lengthy history of engaging
in prayer and other religious activities with players, cheerleaders, staff
and others. Borden routinely opened pre-game meals and locker room huddles
with prayers or arranged for clergy to deliver them. It was only after his
practices were questioned that Borden asserted that bowing his head and
genuflecting are secular activities designed to show respect.
Borden called his pre-game prayers a “rite” and insisted they were intended
to build team unity. But some players, cheerleaders and their parents
protested, causing school officials to order Borden to stop leading
prayers.
The brief also points out that even after Borden was ordered to stop
leading players in prayer, he manipulated the players and insisted they
vote on having a supposedly “student-led” prayer.
Allowing Borden to persist in these activities, AU advises the court, would
put school officials in an untenable situation.
The brief points out, for example, that if Borden prevails, other coaches,
teachers and school personnel could demand the right to pray with students.
Students especially impressionable youngsters in the lower grades could
have religion imposed on them. That faith may clash with what a child’s
family believes, clearly violating parental rights.
The argument takes place at 2:30 on Oct. 3 at the U.S. Courthouse, 601
Market Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Three AU attorneys will attend the
argument. AU Assistant Legal Director Richard B. Katskee will argue the
case. He will be accompanied by Legal Director Ayesha N. Khan and Jessica
Wolland, a fellow in AU’s James Madison Legal Program.
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You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Historical Reality SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
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.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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