G-d and Football, Redux

So, my comments regarding the Hoover High School football team, and their Baptist chaplain, were published in today's Federation Update. (See my previous post for the original comment.)

Here's the BJF's response:

RESPONSE TO ERIC'S LETTER In response to Eric's letter, the BJF contacted a Jefferson County school administrator familiar with such issues who then talked with his own athletic director about the Hoover situation. Both men have many years of experience in Alabama public schools. They, too, questioned the Hoover situation. Said the school official, a devout Christian himself, "If a man of the cloth is there only to encourage, support, and talk about generic ethical or motivational issues, the school could probably justify this. Doing this in the name of any one particular religion or religious leader might cause concerns among those of different faiths.? The school official felt that while the practice of having a volunteer chaplain share Christian-based theological exhortations to motivate the team might technically be legal, "in a public school setting there is an obligation to avoid any semblance of promoting any one particular religious affiliation."

Not a bad reply. It's a sad but true fact that in Alabama, it's always a pleasant surprise to hear public officials acknowledge that religion should be kept out of classrooms, courtrooms, locker rooms. (Of course, this particular public official didn't have the chutzpah to identify himself by name, unfortunately.)

I hope that the publicity shined on Hoover High via "Two-A-Days" brings pressure on them to kick Rev. Slay out of the locker room. I'll say it again: he doesn't belong there.