ACLU shuts down coach's prayers
No objection until legal group read about it in paper

January 21, 2005

 Under threat of an ACLU lawsuit, a high-school wrestling coach was ordered to stop leading prayers with team members after practices and before meets.

 Daren Schaller, coach at Lincoln High School in Ypsilanti, Mich., had been conducting the prayers without objection from students or parents, the Detroit Free Press reported.

 But a story in a local paper brought his praying to the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union, and it took just one day for the district, Lincoln Consolidated Schools, to end it, the paper said.

 "After it caused such a furor, I just double-checked with our legal counsel, and they advised that our coaches should not lead our teams in prayer," Superintendent Sandra Harris told the Free Press.

 The prayers were not mandatory, but the whole team participated.

 The paper noted that in the 1990s, courts ruled that church groups must have equal access to public school facilities after-hours. Also, under the No Child Left Behind Act, schools could lose federal dollars if they deny students the right to constitutionally protected prayer in schools.

 Detroit ACLU legal director Michael Steinberg insisted, however, the prayers at the high school were not constitutional because they were led by the coach.

 "Coach-led prayer or school-sponsored prayer is a state endorsement of religion, and that's very different from making premises available on an equal basis," Steinberg said. "The Constitution requires that the state remain neutral on matters of religion."

 Steinberg told the Detroit paper he believes the issue goes beyond the legalities.

 "What many people don't understand is the emotional toll of coach-led or school-sponsored prayer," he said. "It sends a message to nonbelievers and non-Christians that they are outsiders and not part of the team."

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