Recently, the Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe HS cheerleaders in Fort Oglethorpe, GA, were told they can’t use scripture on the football banners they decorate for the players to run through before games. They’ve been using Biblical verses on the banners for years to encourage the team to win. However, after a parental complaint, the school’s superintendent deemed the practice illegal. This greatly angered the predominantly Christian community, and they rallied against the decision in support of the squad.

Do you think the cheerleaders should be able to continue showing spirit in whatever way they’d like, or do you think it was the right call to ban religious banners? Here's a link to an article about the situation: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... highschool

Tell us what you think! You could end up in an upcoming issue of AC!

Email your answers to Kathleen at khager@americancheerleader.com with Lakeview-Fort in the subject line.

Cheers <3

Absolutely not! They have no right to ban banners with Scripture on them. That violates their 1st Amendment right to freedom of religion and freedom of speech. We can't be acting like a bunch of wimps and give in to every complaint just because one parent doesn't like it. You can't please everyone, and obviously the decision to ban the Scripture offended far many more people than the ONE person who openly objected to it.

That is exactly what I was going to say. I could not have said it better.
I also have to add that if they have doing this for years then I don't get why all of asuden this ONE parent thought this was wrong, and now they cannot do it. This is taking away thier 1st Amendment, which was given to them at birth. Their rights cannot be violated unless they did a crime, which they did NOT do.

i was thinking maybe it was offensive to some spectators? but it is kinda unfair

Spoken like a true liberal. It's people like you who are totally messing up this country and what it stands for (or once stood for).

what are you talking about? warriorprincess is completly right, it can be really offencive to alot of people
and its people like you that are ruining our country

well i dont think that it should've been banned but if that person had a problem then i can understand
but the thing is if they've been doing it for years i really dont see how it was a problem in the first place because they were just keeping up the tradition there wasnt really any harm done
since when can cheerleaders not write something that they feel is encouraging just because an individual has a problem with it???
i dont know maybe because i go to a private school where that wouldnt come up....i just dont think that they should've banned the banners thats all

I think that the only way that would be okay, is if the school was a catholic school. But, it's not fair to the players of other religions to almost be forced to believe something. It should be banned.

Wrong. Actually they do have a right to take down the poster. In the constitution, it states that there's a separation between religion and state. States control public schools and since this was a public school, the school has a constitutional right to ban "scripture". And in public school, you cannot promote any religion. You say it violates the 1st amendment? Wrong. Actually, it doesn't because in this case, it happened in a school. In school, your 1st amendment rights are set to a lower standard. If it was not in school and you wrote "scripture" on a banner, it would be okay, but not in a PUBLIC school, and public school has no specified religion. It has been chrystal clear that since 1962, the practice of prayers lead by school officials or the encouragement of a particular type of religion violates the establishment clause. In the court case, Santa Fe v. Doe, a case similar to this, the Supreme court ruled that student led prayers befor a football game is unconstitutional and wasn't aloud. Private Christian schools aren't affect by this ruling though. So basically, you can not promote the practice of a religion in public schools.

You think it's no big deal because just 1 person coplained about it? Wrong.It IS a big deal even if no one complained because the matter is simply unconstitutional. There have been many Supreme Court Case Rulings on subjects like this and in all those rulings, "Promotion of religion or religious practice in public schools and functions is unconstitutional".

Don't get me wrong, I'm a christian, but its matters like these where we have to see what's right and wrong. Not everyone believes in "God" and not everyone believes in the "God" christians worship. People can get offended and it's not fair to raise the mind set of christianity on a pedistool while we brush other religions under the rug in PUBLIC SCHOOLING. Notice I said public. Again because Private schools are free to promote ANY religion they want.

I respect your personal opinion though, but it's what the law is.