Michael Ramirez for April 27, 2022

So here’s the thing that liberals ALL understand and right wingers ALL fail to (demonstrate that they) understand: Religious freedom is freedom FROM religion. That coach is and was perfectly free to pray in private. He was fired for (as the administration saw it) putting kids who weren’t inclined to pray (that way) into a position where they had to either compromise their own beliefs in order to (as they saw it) stay on the good side of the coach, or they had to take the chance that their careers would be harmed by NOT acting as he wished they would. BECAUSE he was doing it on the 50 yard line in public. It is EXACTLY the same sort of thing as a manager hitting on an employee. Persons with power aren’t ALLOWED to coerce those who depend on them.

As a person who was coerced in a very similar way, I can attest that as long as my parents were spending money to keep me in school, I felt compelled to honor their religious behavior. The MOMENT that I graduated, I stopped going to their church except when I chose to do it. Which caused them pain, they said… completely ignoring the amount of their particular form of BS that I’d had forced down my throat for 20+ years. How many of those kids decided to demonstrate their prayerful behavior once the coach wasn’t leading it? I believe the number could be counted on the noses of one hand.

All these folks know The Lord’s Prayer, but choose to ignore the three verses right before the beginning of that prayer. 5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

The souls of multitudes of “New World” aboriginals might take issue.

MR…timely, poignant and great cartooning. Love the artwork.

Whoa, list get the facts straight here M. Ramirez. The coach can pray all he wants, on his own time, and off school property.

I imagine if the coach put down a prayer rug facing East, Mr. Ramirez would be fine with that!!!???

Just as the push for prayer in school…it’s really about who’s prayer

Hey, Everybody. Lookit me! I’m a Christian. I’m praying right where everyone can see me and applaud me and think I’m just so special.

Jesus would be so impressed.

Or a corporation in Florida.

BTW The first settlers in America sought religious freedom for themselves—and denied it to everyone else. Rhode Island was founded by dissenters fleeing the religious oppression of the Puritans. Church attendance in Jamestown was mandatory.

And just how happy would you be, Mr. Ramirez, if Coach were Muslim?

fusilier

James 2:24

According to testimony at the Supreme Court, players were encouraged to join the prayer circle and those that didn’t rode the bench next game.

Of all the problems in the world today,this is bullcrap!

I wish religion were like sex: Practiced in private among consenting individuals. If you assemble a prayer group or an orgy on the 50 yard line, you’re an exhibitionist.

The original (and somewhat later) European settlers came to the new world to worship “their” way and to punish those didn’t worship “their” way. That’s why you had the Bay Colony, Rouge’s Island, and Pennsylvania. Look at Cotton and Increase Mather.

Some people just don’t get the First Amendment.

Freedom of religion is also freedom from religion. I don’t care what religion you follow as long as you keep me out of it.

My religion requires me to mock those who I decide deserve it. Those other folks who follow “Festivus” stole the “airing of grievances” from Vindrinathism.

I don’t think that God cares one way or another about a football or baseball game. I think he is busier than worrying about that

I think schools still conduct the idolatrous “Pledge of Allegiance”

Borrowing a theme from John Grisham’s A Time to Kill:

Now imagine the coach is Muslim . . .

Quoted from the 1st amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

So, it’s freedom OF religion, not FROM religion. The government may not establish a religion, but the government may also not prevent the free exercise of religion by individuals. That’s a big point of difference from those who think it means freedom FROM religion. To them I suggest that they read and study what the constitution and amendments actually state and means, not what they’ve come up with all on their own.

Not just prayers, the religious right is working hard to get financial support for religious institutions, mainly Christian.

It appears God does not have the time to answer prayers from millions suffering/dying in the Ukraine,Sudan,Yemen… yet people bother him with prayers about a high school football game?

There is no mention of “religious persecution” anywhere in the Constitution, or any drivel about Free Speech reigning. It merely says in the 1st Amendment – Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech….. The only other mention of religion is in Artlcle VI – no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office.

Yes, per the Constitution, a Football Coach cannot “Groom” his students to participate in any particular religion or any religion at all in the public school system.

Or live in Florida.

Wow. Talk about missing the mark. Mike, it’s not that you’re on the wrong side of an argument—as usual. It’s that you’re on the wrong argument. That coach’s situation was NOT about “free speech.” It was about the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment. He was in clear violation of it by using his role as a public employee in a public venue to lead a public prayer. This caused the government put his religion over others—and those with no religion at all. He doesn’t have that right.

He also wasn’t persecuted for his religious beliefs. His contract ended and he didn’t apply for a new one. And even if they would have chosen not to offer him one (moot, since he didn’t apply), it would have been a question of his violating others’ Constitutional rights, not his being violated.

Religion. Always a source of free speech. /s

So true!

Or a teacher, or a doctor

And Jesus said: “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”So, while christians openly defy Jesus and his teachings and demonstrate christian masturbatory incantations to those around them anyway, the law and social guidelines presented in our Constitution dictate those christians should be found guilty of violating the separation of church and state and denying normalcy and decency to those schoolchildren and adults forced to witness christians publicly pleasuring themselves.

Not one student has ever said that the coach ever required or even asked them to join in prayer. Not one student has stepped up to say they were pressured in any way or punished for not participating. That coach had been taking a knee after each game for 8 YEARS, as he promised to God that he would. 10-20 seconds, tops. Not one word of concern from a single person until somebody from an opposing team bitched. 8 YEARS. The one student who seems to have ever claimed to be uncomfortable with participating, told the coach how he felt. So, this awful, religious maniac benched that kid. No, actually, that kid continued to start and was soon made a team captain. Whenever any student asked to join in, coach said, sure, if you want…it’s a free country. Coach never led them in prayer, he simply took a knee and silently thanked God.

Personally, I pray in private. I simply find it hard get into a state of prayer if I’m surrounded by a bunch of people who are doing other things. For me, it’s a very personal thing, so there’s that. I think it would have been wise of the coach to take his thanks to God privately once it became a group event at the 50-yard line. However, I think he has every right to do what he had been doing. That’s assuming he never intentionally used his prayer ritual to rank playing time or any other such thing. It doesn’t appear that he did. Some people don’t like seeing it, but that’s too bad. I don’t like seeing people take a knee during the National Anthem, but I recognize their right to do so. BTW, there’s lots of athletes who have come forward to say that they were pressured and coerced into taking a knee during the anthem. What we need is a freedom from politics amendment to the Constitution!

Praying to win…now thats a loser. You win on qualifications NOT on prayer and a hope.

As a Christian – Matthew 6:5.

As a Christian who supports and defends the Constitution (unlike 45) – I agree with Concretionist that the Constitution states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”

When a coach (a leader, a representative) leads a group in public prayer they are PROMOTING that activity. When the Satanist group was PROHIBITED from leading a counter protest, it was a violation of their 1A rights. If you allow one, then allow all.

https://www.npr.org/2022/04/25/1093116619/the-supreme-court-ponders-the-right-to-pray-on-the-50-yard-line

Now right wing extremist evangelists are trying to overthrow USA democracy so they can have a christen dictatorship.