Last month, Scott Spahr, a women’s basketball coach at Morristown Elementary School, was reported for his tradition of praying before games with his team. While this may seem trivial, Spahr broke the law. As a public school employee, he violated the Establishment Clause from the First Amendment by making a choice to include prayer in his team’s activities, potentially alienating those of a minority religion. Spahr may not have initiated the prayer, taking a part in it was enough to involve the American Humanist Society.

The American Humanist Association (AHA) is a Washington, D.C.-based organization that defends the rights of humanists and advocates the values and policies that humanism is based upon. According to the AHA website, humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms people’s ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity. AHA’s mission is to neutralize religion in public settings, such as school sports.

RELIGION AND SPORTS MIX

However, Religion and sports are two long standing traditions in American culture and, because of the widespread following and devotion to both, they tend to blend. The two practices also play an important role in many students’ lives.

Athletics Director Jim Inskeep said he thinks religion is much more prevalent now than it was when he graduated from CHS in 1992, 24 years ago.

“I say that because I think the number of awesome churches we have in the area with very detailed and programmed youth groups, have really led to that,” Inskeep said. “I think students now are much more open with their spirituality and religion than they ever were 25 years ago, much more so.”

Due to the separation of church and state in the United States, public schools cannot allow religion and sports to mix.

David Niose, legal director for the AHA said, “At public school functions, there should not be an atmosphere that suggests that any authority figure – whether they be a coach, a teacher, or an administrator – favors a particular religion or encourages a particular religious practice from students.”

In accordance with the law, CHS does not allow coach-led religious activities. In addition, all religious activities must be voluntary, according to Inskeep. While coaches are not allowed to lead or take part in any of the religious ceremonies, players on all teams at CHS are allowed to find ways to express themselves spiritually. In fact, some make it a large part of their game preparation.

“I think everyone has their own way in which they get motivated or a calming influence, so I think everyone does something different,” Inskeep said. “For some, it’s listening to music, for others they may turn to religion, for others they may turn to a quiet place, for others it’s practicing more. Everyone takes on stress and difficult situations differently.”

On the field, religious gestures are common, but fall under scrutiny. In October 2015, a high school quarterback from Syracuse, NY was flagged for raising a finger to God after scoring a touchdown because it was deemed as taunting by the official. While the official was heavily criticized in the aftermath, the law states that students, although not coaches, are allowed to personally make religious gestures.

Although Niose said he does not see any issues with a player celebrating, he said he does find the idea of the celebration perplexing due to the AHA’s opinions on religion in a public setting.

Niose said, “Of course there are potential issues if the activity gets out of hand, if it rises to the level of delaying or disrupting the game, but it’s very rare that this would be a problem.”

“That said, humanists do find it strange when an athlete wants to publicly proclaim that he thinks the creator of the universe might be interested in his making a touchdown,” Niose said. “Such a gesture suggests that God would take interest in a football game while ignoring children who are starving on the other side of the world.”

AS A MAJORITY

According to Pew Research Center, 70 percent of Americans identify as Christians. In Indiana, that number increases to 72 percent. The AHA, according to Niose, is so heavily involved in religion in sports because of the religious demographics in America potential difficulties in remaining religiously neutral in this religious landscape.

“In many schools there is a complete disregard for the law, a sense that it’s acceptable for teachers and coaches to favor Christianity just because the majority of families happen to be Christian,” Niose said. “We get involved in these cases because it’s important for public schools to be neutral on religion.”

However, according to Carrie Larson, Christian women’s basketball player and senior, the entire CHS women’s basketball team is Christian. This allows for the entire team to take part in religious practices without potential conflict.

“Before every game, the girls get together and pray; we like to keep in mind that we are playing for (God) and not anything temporary,” Larson said.

However, according to Carrie Larson, women’s basketball player and senior, the entire CHS women’s basketball team is Christian. That, Larson said, allows for the entire team to take part in religious practices without any potential conflict amongst one another.

“Before every game, the girls get together and pray; we like to keep in mind that we are playing for (God) and not anything temporary,” Larson said.

Different than traditionally small basketball teams, however, football teams often contain at least 50 students, and in CHS’s case, that number is closer to 100. At that point it becomes nearly impossible, especially at a public school, to have the entire team share the same religious viewpoints.

Scott Levine, football player and senior, said the team is mostly Christian and after the games many team members participate in a Christian-based religious circle. However, Levine, who is Jewish, said he tries to maintain a secular state of mind in football.

“Personally I don’t bring (religion) in,” Levine said. “I just try to play the sport as a game and I don’t bring any outside views.”

Larson said she believes many people miss the benefits of mixing religion and sports.

“Sometimes I think there is too much emphasis on (religion),” Larson said. “But for myself I like having that moment before the game where you realize it’s just a game and that in the end it doesn’t matter.”

AS A MINORITY

Because Carmel, like the rest of the United States, is a Christian-dominated community, people of other religious factions often may find difficulty in expressing their views inside the locker room. That does not mean there are problems with minority prayer, but it can be difficult to be as public or vocal about a differing religious view.

“That’s always tough because you know you’re never part of the majority so you don’t have much say,” Levine said. “But what it comes down to for most of us, if we aren’t forced to do anything, then we are okay, as we are open to all religions.”

Larson said she recognizes there are other religions and respects them all and sees how blurry the line is when trying to incorporate a religious activity into the team environment.

“For sure it would be an issue; fortunately, we all have the same religious viewpoint,” Larson said. “But if we did have somebody who had a different view, it would for sure be difficult not to offend them in any way.”

People who are in the religious minority, including atheists, tend to not take part in the religious activities, do their own pre-game ritual or take part in the team ritual. Levine represents a minority religion and said he does the latter.

Inskeep said the reason some athletes succumb to the peer pressure of joining the prayer is to be part of the team ritual than what is actually said and talked about.

Larson said if she was on a team where Christianity was not the dominant religion, she would not partake in the team ritual; instead she would choose her own pre-game ritual.

“There is no pressure on anybody in the team to participate, but if you want to you can,” Larson said.

Niose said, “Christians should not feel that the legal requirement of religious neutrality in public schools is somehow an attack on their religion. The AHA supports religious freedom and our efforts are aimed at keeping schools religiously neutral. We’re sure most Christian families would be upset if a coach sought to initiate Muslim prayers or Hindu prayers at the conclusion of a public school sporting event. If you understand that, then you should have little difficulty understanding why the law doesn’t allow coaches to lead Christian prayers.”

AN OPEN-MINDED CHS

While there are religious conflicts on the field and in the locker rooms in sports across the United States, the common theme across all teams at CHS is to embrace people of all religious views. The football team uses a pastor and Levine said everybody is welcomed and encouraged to go visit him, regardless of religion. Both Larson and Levine said nobody is ever forced to participate in any activity.

According to Inskeep, the religious tolerance exemplifies the change in the entire student body over the past 25 years.

“I think our kids are very accepting and I believe that as we’ve gotten larger as a student population, our student body has become even more sensitive to the needs of other demographics and religions,” Inskeep said. “It is really a melting pot in our building, and I don’t think a lot of people would understand that outside of our community. It wasn’t that case when I graduated in 1992, and it’s a better place than it was in 1992.”