North Dakota’s high school athletic authorities claim they have the authority to control prayer at a school.
Bob Unruh
World Net Daily
State athletic authorities in North Dakota say they can control prayer at a private, Catholic school on its own football field, with its own announcers, students and parents in attendance. The dispute erupted when Fargo’s Shanley High School advanced to the state football playoffs and earned the right to hold a playoff game this Saturday on its own field.
The school of 330 students, which promises on its website “excellent educational programs where faith is integrated with academic subjects through weekly Masses, daily prayer and faith-sharing experiences,” had conducted game-time prayer over its PA system all season long.
But for the playoffs, the North Dakota High School Activities Association, warned the school that “prayer before the football game is prohibited by the Supreme Court’s decision fifteen years ago in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe,” according to a letter from the Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm representing the school.
“Santa Fe is certainly binding on public schools when it comes to the question of prayer before sports games. However, the case is completely inapposite here. Shanley is not a governmental actor. It is a private school, with a religious identity. When it hosts sports events, it does so as a private actor, and its religious expression cannot legitimately be characterized as that of the state,” the letter to the association said. Officials with the NDHSAA declined WND’s request to comment on the dispute.
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