This Christian School Is Suing for Their Right to Pray - CBN News

This Christian School Is Suing for Their Right to Pray

09-28-2016

CBN News

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A high school football team stopped from praying before games is taking their battle off the field and into the courtroom.

"We were really excited to play in the championship game," Jacon Enns, Cambridge Christian School football team kicker, said. "But then we showed up and they wouldn't let us pray. It's been our tradition ever since I've been on the team, and our tradition was ruined. It made me wonder, 'Is it wrong to pray?'"

Enns is referring to what happened when the Florida High School Athletic Association told them if they prayed over the loudspeaker, it would be viewed as the "unlawful government endorsement of religion."

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Christian Students Told They Can't Pray at Championship Game

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The school doesn't agree and filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday for the incident with the FHSAA at their championship game.

CCS is suing the FHSAA for violating the school's constitutional rights. The school calls the FHSAA's actions a violation of free speech and religious freedom.

"This is a clear case of governmental interference in a private school's right to exercise its religious freedom," Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, said. "Pre-game prayer is not only a long-standing tradition for Cambridge Christian; it is fundamental to its reason for being."

"By banning us from praying over the loudspeaker, the FHSAA told our students that prayer is something bad and should be forbidden," Tim Euler, head of Cambridge Christian, said. "We want our students to know that prayer is good and a fundamental constitutional right that should be defended."

Cambridge Christian's attorneys are prepared to defend that constitutional right and hope to make prayer legal on the football field again.

Like Daniel, This Man Determined to Bow in Prayer Despite Threats - Jessilyn Justice

Like Daniel, This Man Determined to Bow in Prayer Despite Threats

10/16/2015 JESSILYN JUSTICE  charisma news

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Despite demands from the school district, high school football coach Joe Kennedy is determined to keep up his ritualistic end-of-game prayers.  

At the end of each game, Kennedy walks the 50-yard-line, "thanking God for the game and for the players." 

The Bremerton, Washington, school district is still investigating him for violating "fundamental constitutional rights" of his players.

The Seattle Times reports District Superintendent Aaron Leavell recognizes Kennedy's actions were "entirely well-intentioned," but the district determined they are in violation of district policies and the law and are "exposing the district to significant risk of liability." 

Kennedy says he's never once received complaints; rather, he's experienced the opposite: "Then a couple said they were Christians and asked if they could join. I responded, 'It's a free country, you can do whatever you want to do.'" 

While the school district worries about the liability of the ritual, The Seattle Times reports Bremerton players and opposing teams are engaged in the prayer.  

"It's about unity. We can be mad at each other all we want during a game and get upset, but once the game is over, that all goes away," Bremerton team captain Ethan Hacker says. "What (Kennedy) does brings us all together no matter how much we despise (one another)." 

As Friday night lights ignite high school football, Kennedy has no intention of backing down.  

"I tell my kids to be bold in their beliefs," Kennedy tells the Times. "I want to set an example to stand up for what you believe in, even if it isn't popular."

Watch interview: High Football Coach Prays

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'When the Game Stands Tall' about Raising Mighty Men - CBN News

Jim Caviezel as Coach Bob Ladouceur

'When the Game Stands Tall' 

about Raising Mighty Men

By Efrem Graham

CBN News Anchor & Reporter

Thursday, August 21, 2014

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LOS ANGELES -- The story of legendary football coach, Bob Ladouceur, is hitting the big screen in the new movie, "When the Game Stands Tall." But it is Ladouceur's actions off the field that get the most attention.

Coach Ladouceur's quiet leadership overshadows De La Salle High School's winning streak of more than 150 consecutive games.

When he signed on to teach religious studies at the school in 1979, the Spartans had never won a football game. But that did not discourage him from adding coaching to his school duties.

"I was young. I was 24 at the time. And I thought I am going to give this a shot and see what I can do," Ladouceur told CBN News, recalling that time in his life.

"I was even trying to seek my own level of competence and see what I was meant to do because I really didn't know," he added. "And I thought this might be it. I felt real comfortable about football."

"I had a good feel for the game. And I thought, let's give it a shot. And once I got into it, it only took me a year and I thought this is what I meant to do," he added.

Jim Caviezel on His Role

In the new movie, "Coach Lad's" story begins with game 152, when the winning streak ends and things fall apart.

Actor Jim Caviezel, best known for his role as Jesus in "Passion of the Christ," plays the coach in this film. Caviezel discussed the greatest challenges of this role with CBN News.

The biggest challenge was "that he is alive," Caviezel said.

"That people would put the judgment down pretty hard on you," he added. "Normally, when you are doing a script you have just the foundation of the script that you are working on this one. This one there is another one and that's him."

"And then, who are we going to get to play Terry?" he added. "This is an odd couple. There are a lot of things that could go wrong that didn't go wrong."

Terry Eidson is "Coach Lad's" more animated assistant. That role was played by Michael Chiklis.

"I mean, naturally, they want to win the games they play," Chiklis told CBN News in discussing the real life coaches portrayed in the film. "But really what they want to accomplish is mentoring these boys into young men, who can be relied upon."

Tougher Off the Field

The De La Salle Spartans' story is tougher off the field and that comes to light in the real-life story of player Cameron Colvin, who lost both parents before his sophomore year at the all-boys prep school.

That loss was only the beginning of Colvin's pain, before going to play football at the University of Oregon and then landing a short stint in the NFL with the Washington Redskins.

Actor Ser'Darius Blain plays the role of Cameron.

Blain told CBN News Cameron was able to succeed against the odds because of support of brotherhood.

"That's it. He has the support of 60 brothers on one football team who won't let him fall into despair," he said.

Alexander Ludwig, who also stars in the film, agreed with Blain.

"That is the message of the movie. You can't do it alone. You need to have the strength to depend on someone," Ludwig told CBN News. "And that sometimes in the hardest thing to do, is to actually ask somebody for help."

Moved to Tears

In the end, this is a football film about a modest man dedicated to raising mighty men. And it is a story that moves many viewers to tears.

Coach Ladouceur said the tears are "because it is about kids and it's about their lives and about them navigating through life and learning."

"We have been fortunate," he said. "We get to see that every year. And we have cried our own tears in real time."

Assistant Coach Terry Eidson quickly added, "I think redemption always brings a tear."