Inside the First Amendment: Loss for coach is win for students' religious liberty

This OPED by Gene Policinski, vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center in C-J:

In turning away an appeal from a New Jersey football coach who prayed with his students, the U.S. Supreme Court has reaffirmed a long-held protection of the religious-liberty rights of individual players and other students.

The Court decided March 2 not to hear a challenge to an East Brunswick, N.J., school district's policy that forbids staff members from joining in student-led prayer. In doing so, the Court stood by a series of decisions stretching back to 1962, when it found in Engel vs. Vitale that schools can't direct that a prayer be said at the beginning of each school day.

The unsuccessful appeal was pursued by long-time coach Marcus Borden, who wanted to bow his head silently and "take a knee" with his football players in a pre-game moment -- far less than his active leadership in the past, according to Court documents...

...The justices declined to review the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Borden v. School District of the Township of East Brunswick, which rejected the notion that the coach could be perceived as just a bystander -- given that for more than two decades Borden organized or led mandatory prayer meetings. The 3rd Circuit also rejected claims that the coach's actions could be viewed as just "secular" and that constitutional issues were washed away by having students "vote" on whether or not to hold prayer sessions....

...The 3rd Circuit decision upheld the principle that religion does indeed have a place in public schools, but that the school and the people who work there have no group or individual right to favor one religion over others, or to force their beliefs onto students by any means -- and by extension, intrude on parents' rights....

...In the New Jersey case, some students who questioned the coach's practices were subjected to threats, harassment, and religious, racial and ethnic slurs -- in person, on Web sites and at football games.

Those misguided and potentially criminal responses ignore two fundamental facts about religious liberty in this nation: Students in a public school may pray individually or gather on their own in a group before or after the game to pray. But neither the school nor its representatives can become entangled in the process, either by encouraging or inhibiting religious practice -- and certainly not by forcing others to "take a knee" in deference or obedience to state-sponsored beliefs.