Coaches Told Not To Bow in Prayer

According to a November 8 article featured in www.gospelherald.com, the Coweta County School District in Georgia has issued an edict banning all coaches and other employees from participating in student-initiated or student-led prayer or other forms of worship while acting in their official capacity. This came after they obtained video of a  high school football coach bowing his head during a team prayer.

The complaint originated from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation. The group is comprised of  disgruntled atheists and agnostics who have a long history of similar actions especially in small unsuspecting towns all around the nation.  The protesting group then said, "They cannot join hands, bow their heads, take a knee or commit another act that otherwise manifests approval with the students' religious experience." They also said that it is illegal for public school athletic coaches to lead their teams in prayer because it is unconstitutional  and endorses a  religion when done in an official capacity as a school district employee.

The author of the article then said something quite simple but profound. He wrote, “Professional football coaches are celebrated for taking a knee to protest America, but high school football coaches are targeted for taking a knee to pray with their players. Had Coach Small been taking a knee to protest America, I doubt the Freedom From Religion Foundation would've objected.” He ended his article by saying, “What a mess, folks”  And what a mess this is indeed!

Then add to this kind of nonsense the growing protests to any reference to God anywhere in culture. It is now common even in government circles. A classic example of this came recently when Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat from Southern California, walked out during a moment of silence held on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives for the Texas shooting victims. He stated, “I can’t do this again.  I will not be silent. What we need is we need action, we need to pass gun safety legislation now.” What he was saying was that prayer is useless if not counterproductive. Then also Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat, boycotted a moment of silence on the House floor for victims of October’s Las Vegas shooting, calling it “an excuse for inaction.”  And keep in mind that this was over just a moment of  'silence'.

In 2 Timothy 3:12-13 we read these words. ”Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.  But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”  These conditions seem to be the case today. And it reminds me of the words of Rev. David Virkler who was the founder of the ministry that includes this blog. He said many times, in light of the twisted attitudes seen in recent days, that ‘The old moralist has become the new criminal.” In other words, those who are Godly believers in Christ, and who outwardly promote Biblical truth, have become targets for doing evil instead of being seen as solutions for it. It is a tragic flip flop and reversal of what is good, right and just before a holy God! 

So what should be our response to what we see in this verse and what we are witnessing all about us in these difficult and declining end times? That advice comes in the following words in verses 14 and 15. “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,  and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

The Bible predicted what the prevailing attitudes would be concerning  Biblical truth in the days leading up to the return of Christ. So the current attacks and persecution on those of the faith should not be any great surprise. But it should instead be an encouragement to stand strong in the midst of it all  while knowing that to live Godly through Christ is to invite opposition but also God’s special  blessing and favor as well.

"Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.  12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  (Matthew 5:11-12)


Bill Breckenridge