Atheists badgering school with 'noisy, public complaint meant to harass,' says lawyer
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A school district in Missouri is spending its time and resources investigating a "noisy, public complaint meant to harass."
That's the opinion of Jeremy Dys, special counsel for litigation at First Liberty Institute, which has advised Cameron School District in Missouri to ignore a letter from the Freedom from Religion Foundation unless they have someone who is in the district taking part in the complaint.
The FFRF wrote to the district expressing its opposition to a voluntary prayer in which some football players and coaches have participated.
"This letter is little more than a noisy, public complaint meant to harass and embarrass Americans just trying to live their lives," Dys said in a Fox News report. "Unless someone presents a plaintiff with actual legal standing, school officials should ignore these letters. No one should reward efforts to gin up controversy where none exists."
The report said the district now is investigating the letter to the Cameron district by FFRF.
The anti-religion organization contends that head coach Jeff Wallace and assistant Coach David Stucky improperly held post-game prayer at the 50-yard line for the team.
Cameron's opposing teams sometimes also have taken part.
FFRF, however, issued its demands to the district: "We ask that the district commence an investigation into the complaints alleged and take immediate action to stop any and all school-sponsored prayers or religious worship..."
The letter from FFRF lawyer Christopher Line said the practice is a "flagrant violation of the First Amendment."
Fox reported, "Supt. Dr. Matt Robinson responded to the Wisconsin-based group's complaint, adding that the district has never received a complaint from anyone in the community."
"As outlined in district policy, the Cameron R-I School District does not endorse religion," Robinson told Fox News. "The district is currently investigating the concerns raised in the Freedom From Religion Foundation's letter to the district, pursuant to the district's non-discrimination policy and policy regarding religious expression, to determine whether district policy has been violated.
"The district takes concerns of violations of policy seriously, and will take action with regard to any findings from this investigation as appropriate," he said.
At Christian Headlines a report described the FFRF as "a national atheist group."
It "represents atheists, agnostics and 'freethinkers,'" the report said.
The FFRF says the Supreme Court has struck down school-sponsored prayer, but several parents of players said in the report the Cameron event is voluntary and "doesn't involve school-led prayer."
"They just say, 'Okay, everybody bow your heads,' and they have a moment of silence and everyone does their own individual prayer," parent Jeff Speer told a local television report.
"Other teams join. We’ve had almost every team we play this year come out, join on their own."
In fact, the FFRF and several similarly situated organizations routinely watch for activity such as voluntary prayer by school athletic teams in order to threaten the districts with lawsuits.
However, such situations also have many supporters. Just this week, an image of a high-school football player stopping to pray for a member of the opposing team whose mother was ill went viral.
Those who oppose prayers cite constitutional prohibitions on special treatment for religion. Those who support prayers cite freedom of speech and freedom of religion for those participating, as well as the constitutional ban on government hostility toward religion.
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