Football players at Arkansas State
University were ordered to either remove a Christian cross decal from their
helmets or modify it into a mathematical sign after a Jonesboro attorney
complained that the image violated the U.S. Constitution.
The cross decal was meant to
memorialize former player Markel Owens and former equipment manager Barry
Weyer, said athletic director Terry Mohajir. Weyer was killed in a June car crash. Owens was gunned down in Tennessee in January.
Barry Weyer Sr., told Todd Starnes of
Breaking Christian News that the
players and coaches voluntarily decided to memorialize his son and Owens. “The players knew they were both Christians
so they decided to use the cross along with their initials,” he said. “They wanted to carry the spirits of Markel
and Barry down onto the field for one more season.”
It was a decision that had the full
support of the university’s athletic director.
“I support our students’ expression of their faith,” Mohajir said. “I am 100% behind our students and coaches.”
However, the athletic director said
he had no choice but to remove the crosses after he received a message from the
university’s legal counsel. “It is my
opinion that the crosses must be removed from the helmets,” university counsel
Lucinda McDaniel wrote to Mohajir. “While
we could argue that the cross with the initials of the fallen student and
trainer merely memorialize their passing, the symbol we have authorized to
convey that message is a Christian cross.”
According to documents provided to Todd
Starnes by Arkansas State, McDaniel gave the football team a choice – they could
either remove the cross or modify the decal. And by modify she meant deface. “If the bottom of the cross can be cut off so
that the symbol is a plus sign (+) there should be no problem,” she wrote. “It is the Christian symbol which has caused
the legal objection.”
The team had been wearing the decals
for two weeks without any complaints. That
changed after last Saturday’s nationally televised game against the Tennessee
Volunteers. Jonesboro attorney Louis
Nisenbaum sent McDaniel an email complaining about the cross decal. “That is a clear violation of the ‘establishment
clause’ as a state endorsement of the Christian religion,” Nisenbaum wrote. “Please advise whether you agree and whether
ASU will continue this practice.”
Ironically, the university’s legal
counsel admitted in a letter that there were no specific court cases that
addressed crosses on football helmets. Nevertheless,
she feared the possibility of a lawsuit.
“It is my opinion that we will not prevail on that challenge and must
remove the crosses from the helmets or alter the symbols so that they are a
(plus sign) instead of a cross,” she wrote in an email to the athletic
director.
The Wisconsin-based Freedom From
Religion Foundation (FFRF) fired off a letter congratulating the university on
cleansing the helmets of the Christian symbol.
“The crosses appeared to confer State’s endorsement of religion,
specifically Christianity,” the FFRF wrote.
“The inclusion of the Latin cross on the helmets also excludes the 19%
of the American population that is non-religious.” FFRF co-presidents Annie Lauire Gaylor and
Dan Barker went so far as to suggest alternative ways for the football players
to mourn. “Many teams around the country
honor former team-mates by putting that player’s number on their helmets or
jerseys, or by wearing a black armband,” they wrote. “Either of those options, or another symbolic
gesture free from religion imagery, would be appropriate.”
That suggestion set off the athletic
director. “I don’t even kinda-sorta care
about any organization that tells our students how to grieve,” Mohajir told Todd
Starnes. “Everybody grieves differently.
I don’t think anybody has the right to
tell our students how to memorialize their colleagues, their classmates or any
loved ones they have.”
The Apostle Paul referred to “the
offense of the cross” (Galatians 5:11) which he did not want removed. This is an offense that never was intended to
cease. Jesus said, “Take up your cross
and follow Me.” May the Lord help us take
up the offense of the cross – gladly, courageously and joyfully – and follow
after Him.
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
I think the students should have worn the decals anyway. The school could have requested they not and thereby protected themselves. The players could have worn the decals in spite of the schools order. The school wouldn't be liable and good luck with FFRF violating the students free speech rights.
ReplyDeletePoint well taken!
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