Prayer on the Football Field.

Should student-led prayers be allowed before school games?

YES

In May 1999, my high school classmates elected another student and me to say a few words before school football games in the 1999-2000 season. I chose to make my few words a prayer. Before each game, I asked the Lord for safety on the field, good sportsmanship among the players and other participants, and a safe trip home for all--in the name of Jesus Christ.

This June, in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that my school's policy promoting student-led prayer was an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state. It said that prayer at a school event such as a football game--even prayer led voluntarily by a student--sends the message that nonbelievers "are outsiders."

I disagree.

I don't believe that students should be forced to pray, or that there should be one government-endorsed church. But in trying to avoid those evils, the courts have gone overboard. They've become not just neutral, but anti-religion. By banning student-led prayers at football games, they're violating my freedom of speech. They're singling out religious speech for a special ban they don't put on other speech.

Opponents of student-led prayers argue that these prayers make students in religious minorities uncomfortable. But I would have no problem at all if, at another game, a student chose to make totally secular remarks.

Let's be open to the expression of all views--including the views of those who, like me, are proud to testify to their belief in Jesus Christ.

--MARIAN WARD, 19 Santa Fe, Texas 

NO

I agree with the Supreme Court: Prayers over the loudspeaker have no place at school football games.

Defenders of student-led prayer say that banning it restricts students' freedom of speech. Well, the line for me is whether a student's right to religious freedom infringes on others' rights to be free from religious pressure at school-sponsored events. It is one thing for a student to sit quietly and pray, and a completely different thing for him or her to use a loudspeaker to make that prayer public. There is no religious freedom to try to convert others, and prayers at public football games are, for me, a student's attempt to foist a particular religion on the crowd.

I formed an atheist club in my high school as an alternative to a Bible-study group that already existed. The school made things difficult, saying I didn't have a teacher-sponsor, and students harassed us, too. Signs promoting the club were torn down, and people scribbled insults like "Burn in Hell" on them. One would think my group did evil things, but all we did was meet to discuss philosophy and talk about how to keep our school as secular as possible.

If student-led prayer is allowed, however sincere the spirit in which it is offered, it can easily become just a subtler form of this same pressure. What will happen to students who are not Christian, but Jewish or Muslim? What about atheists like me?

America was founded on the principle of freedom of--and therefore freedom from--religion. Let's keep it that way.

--MICAH WHITE, 18 Grand Blanc, Michigan