Feel the Rainbow? Texas teacher fired over rainbow stickers

So there are a couple of things here. Number one is that his private prayer happened center stage at a very public event.

Freedom of speech and religion should be allowed in public. I hate that minors in subservient roles would then be exposed to that which might be considered pressure from an authority figure of the state. It's a very tricky area.

Number 2. As a follower of Christ, I find it a bit insincere and possible contradictory to some scripture to try and take the front row at the temple, etc. At the same time if it was something that was sincere, I would find it understandable. The fact that it was a regular occurrence proves that he wanted to make a show of it and was using his position as a state employee to spread the gospel. Had it happened one time, or even in the locker room after the games it might be different.

It isn't cut and dry, but I believe he was using his position as a coach to publicly try and spread his religion.

 

To respond to several of the posts and apologize for a group response.

There are certainly good points about the spectacle the coach is created and about his role as an authority figure. As stated this is a fine line. I will again repeat that separation of church and state doesn't mean no church at all in a government setting. A private individual making a public prayer even on government property is still allowed and taking a zero policy stance I don't think is helpful or even in line with what Founders intended with the idea of separation of church and state.

Understood there is a lot of peer pressure that can happen as an young athlete on a team. I think legislating primarily on peer pressure though is a very difficult situation and could lead to a micromanagement of what coaches can say or do. For example as college competitor my coach was a devout Buddhist who was studying to become a Zen monk. One thing he did often after regular practice was meditate on our practice floor that was in a state college facility. He didn't require us to join him but many including myself did.

Given that Zen practice is technically a religious practice under the same reasoning above he should've been fired.

My own view is that while yes this in the strictest sense was violation of separation of church and state but given that it was him engaging in a private activity of is own faith that wasn't forced upon others. He didn't take it out on his students and players for not joining him. Whatever effect of it making more people Buddhist was negligible at most.

As I said earlier my line would be if he was punishing or downgrading players who didn't join in the prayer.

To tie this back to another topic. I've been very critical of the FL's law on LGBT and what teachers can discuss with very young students. ON the same basis that I believe we live in a diverse society with many different views and identities that also includes religion. As much as I don't think we should have "Don't say Gay" we shouldn't also have "Don't say Jesus" laws. I don't believe that just because someone is a teacher means they need to give up or subsume their identity. In this a case like this yes the coach needs to be careful with how he expresses his religion and what message that might be sending to his players. As a society though we should be just as careful and respectful of public displays of religious devotion.

As long as it's understood this is not part of the game, this is not being forced on anyone, he isn't reducing players time or assignments if they don't participate. Then that should be allowed.

 

Meditating is not considered a religious practice by a lot of people and he was not doing it at the 50 yard line, I don't know why you can't or refuse to understand that.

You don't know what that coach has done to pressure the players and it does not have to be overt pressure so far as making threats, we are talking about high school kids here.

The things you don't know it anything was "understaood" yet you are all in, and you keep ignoring the fact that this type of thing is in the constitution its pretty cut and dried and has been ruled on with the Supreme Court.

 

All of what you said is fine...except one thing. It is not a private activity when it's on the 50 yard line seconds after a game. No one has asked him to give up who he is. No one is saying he can't pray. No one is saying he can't go to church. No one is stopping him from being the best Christian he can be at all. He has absolutely no restrictions on being as religious as he wants to be...with the exception that he cannot use his public school teaching/coaching job to proselytize on the 50 yard line after the public school football game.