Per CBS 42, Blount County Schools will no longer allow student or volunteer-led prayer over the PA system before football games.
Superintendent Rodney Green indicated that the district made the decision based upon the advice of their legal counsel after an organization “based outside of the community” complained. Instead of prayer, they will now observe a moment of silence, which mirrors the decision reached by Hewitt-Trussville after being faced with a similar complaint last year.
“I feel like we as Christians are being silenced and so we have to go with the majority that is very loud,” Alecia Melvin, who lives in Blount County, said.
Yet, residents have indicated that their faith will not be cast aside, whether they can use the intercom or not.“We believe that is an integral part of our life, we believe that to be able to pray, the Bible tells us to pray without ceasing,” said Scott Wortham, a youth minister at First Baptist Church in Remlap.
“We really see no harm in praying for the welfare of our football players, and those that will be out playing – protection, and good sportsmanship,” he added.
Blount County is currently viewed as the “guinea pig” county for Alabama’s new “In God We Trust” law, which allows public buildings, including schools, to display the national motto.
In expressing his strong support for the law in a recent appearance on “Fox and Friends,” Blount County Schools Superintendent Green said, “I think having a basic, fundamental national motto in ‘In God We Trust’ gives our students a level of comfort that our national motto supports a recognition of a higher authority and we can depend on that higher authority for protection.”
Critics of the law had threatened to file lawsuits on the issue, but Attorney General Steve Marshall made it clear that he did not expect that potential legal action to be successful.
“‘In God We Trust’ is the official national motto, adopted by an Act of Congress and displayed on the nation’s currency as well as in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives. A lawsuit against a school displaying the national motto would be laughed out of court,” Marshall said.
He added, “Frankly, in a time when schools are increasingly the targets of violence, it is hard to understand how one could argue that a renewed emphasis on our nation’s religious heritage through the display of ‘In God We Trust’ or the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance could be detrimental to our students.”
That an “outside organization” has now attacked Blount County on a different religious basis will almost certainly lead to speculation that the two stories are connected.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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