Legislators support pre-game prayer

WASHINGTON -- Some Texas legislators joined forces yesterday on a measure that unites God and high school football -- two topics sacred to many in the state.

"If we can start each day in Congress with a prayer, why can't the students in our schools do the same before their football games," said Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-Texas, at a Capitol Hill press conference.

Bonilla and a few other House members passed around a football as they expressed disdain for a February ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans that banned the practice of kicking off games with a sectarian prayer over the public address system.

"This ban sets a dangerous precedent. It is wrong for our courts to dictate when and where we can pray," Bonilla said.

Rep. Max Sandlin, D-Texas, shared in the outrage.

"Are we in a position in this country where asking for divine guidance is a problem?" he asked.

Bonilla and fellow Texan Rep. Charlie Stenholm, a Democrat from Stamford, introduced a symbolic resolution Tuesday that says "prayers and invocations at public school sporting events are constitutional under the First Amendment" and that the Supreme Court should uphold them as such.

The legislation is the latest in a string of outcries against the 5th U.S. Circuit Court ruling.

Rural districts across Texas have passed resolutions against the ban and the attorneys general of nine states have written the Supreme Court in support of prayer at football games. In addition, Texas Attorney General John Cornyn and Gov. George W. Bush issued a joint friend-of-the-court brief strongly supporting the prayer practice.

Meanwhile, supporters of the ruling say that the prayers are an inappropriate mixing of schools and religion and impose a "majority" religion on all public school children.

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, criticized the House members for "using prayer as a political football."

"They are obviously trying to manipulate religion to score points with the folks back home," he said.

Thirteen House members from Texas have co-sponsored the measure including Democrats such as Sandlin and Rep. Ralph Hall, and Republicans such as Reps. Ron Paul and Lamar Smith.

The prayer-at-football-games controversy in Texas started with a 1995 lawsuit against a school district in Santa Fe, Texas, about 20 miles north of Galveston. Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, two anonymous families -- one Catholic and the other Mormon -- sued the Santa Fe School District for promoting Christianity through several incidents.

A U.S. district judge in Galveston eventually ruled that only "nonsectarian" and "nonproselytizing" prayers could be said at graduation activities and football games. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court ruling on graduation prayers but banned prayers from football games, reasoning that the sporting event is not a solemn occasion.

Sandlin said the distinction is "strained at best."

"If it is constitutional at a graduation . . . than it is absolutely constitutional at a football game," he said.