Across America, most high school football seasons are winding down. It will wrap up the first year since the Supreme Court ruled it was OK for a public school coach near Seattle to pray on the field.
WEST BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Surrounded by a slew of players with their arms draped over shoulders, West Bloomfield High School assistant coach Justin Ibe bowed his head and led a Christian prayer before a recent Friday night game."Ameen," the players quietly said, using the Arabic word for amen.
"It's harder, whether you're a coach, librarian, teacher or counselor," said Lara Schwartz, an American University professor whose specialties include campus speech and constitutional law."There are activist groups targeting books and ideas, saying you can lose your license if you have these conversations. That to me is a threat to people having good constructive dialogue in classrooms, or with coaches.
At Crestwood High School in Dearborn Heights, where most of the football team is Muslim, the entire team gathers before practices and games to pray on one knee. First, most of the players recite Al-Fatiha. Then, a player says a Christian prayer to the attentive group. Still, the team plays it safe at Fordson High, where coaches clear the locker room and leave players to pray if they wish.
"We don't know if people are comfortable," he said."We don't know what their opinions are about it. We just don't want any conflict with anybody else." Outside Detroit, coaches gave time and space for their players to pray, showing the teenagers that accomodations can be made for different faiths as well as the right to decline.
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