by Jorge Gomez • 2 minutes
First Liberty filed an appeal this week at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of our client, Cambridge Christian School.
Cambridge Christian competed against Jacksonville’s University Christian School in a state championship football game back in 2015. The game was played at the Citrus Bowl, now known as Orlando’s Camping World Stadium. Consistent with their religious traditions, the two schools asked to lead a brief, pregame prayer over the stadium loudspeaker.
The Florida High School Athletic Association prohibited them from doing so, stating that the prayer would be an impermissible “endorsement” of religion by the state, because it would take place on government property. In other words, the state banned the two Christian schools from praying.
We argued the case last June before a three-judge panel explaining that this prayer ban is unconstitutional. Earlier this month, that panel issued a ruling against our clients, holding that the FHSAA’s ban was justified because praying over the loudspeakers would be “government speech.” We’re appealing that ruling and asking the case to be heard by a full panel of judges.
What’s most ironic about the FHSAA’s prayer ban is that the two schools wanted to pray at the same venue where, in 1969 and 1983, evangelist Billy Graham shared the Gospel with thousands in attendance. Not only that, but two other Christian schools played a championship game at the stadium in 2012 and were allowed to pray over the loudspeakers.
“The Constitution protects the best of our traditions – like prayer before a sporting event – from censorship,” Senior Counsel Jeremy Dys explains. “It protects religious speech, even when it occurs on government property.”
In the landmark First Liberty victory in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the U.S. Supreme Court held that government cannot use the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to censor private religious expression that is otherwise protected by the Free Exercise Clause. The decision correctly points out that “the Constitution neither mandates nor tolerates that kind of discrimination.”
Cambridge Christian needs your support as it continues to fight in federal appeals court.
This case presents a tremendous opportunity to ensure students can freely live out their faith without government censorship. If state officials can discriminate against two Christian schools and prevent them from praying in public, it won’t be long before they selectively choose other speech to censor. The outcome of this case could have a national impact and protect countless Americans.
Please give today. Your gift will help First Liberty deliver a victory not just for Cambridge Christian, but for religious schools and people of faith nationwide.
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