Tampa Christian School Threatens Lawsuit after Prohibited from Praying before Championship
A Tampa Christian school has threatened to file a lawsuit after the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) prohibited their players from praying before a football championship began.
In December 2015, the Cambridge Christian School requested the FHSAA to allow them to use the loudspeaker for their pre-game prayer before the Class 2A championship began. However, the association did not grant their request, and now the school is threatening to take legal action if an apology will not be issued, according to Fox 13.
Headmaster Tim Euler emailed the request a few days before the game. An FHSAA representative responded by saying they could not grant the Christian school's request because of some issues with the federal law. First, the venue of the game — the Citrus Bowl facility — is public property; and second, the host of the event — the FHSAA — is a state organization, the report relays.
Atty. Jeremy Dys, the legal representative for Liberty Institute, called out the FHSAA for allegedly stepping on religious liberty. He said the organization is obligated to honor that right, the report details.
"What is the Florida High School Athletic Association teaching our student athletes in this state? They're telling the entire state that it's wrong to pray," said Atty. Dys. "Well I've got a message for each one of the students across this country, every student athlete in Florida: it's not wrong to pray in public."
Dys also said the school wants the FHSAA to issue an apology by Jan. 25 and an assurance that the incident will not happen again. Should the association fail to come up with their demand, they will file a federal lawsuit against it, The Tampa Tribune reports.
The demand letter gives the FHSAA 30 days to respond, otherwise the school will elevate the issue to the federal court. The school insists that the FHSAA is censoring their right to private speech by not allowing their students and players to pray in public.
