Cheerleaders Barred From Displaying Religious Messages

Chattanooga - Community members are rallying around Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School cheerleaders after they were banned from displaying signs with Bible verses urging fans and players to “commit to the Lord” and “take courage and do it.” The banners — the paper ones that football players crash through at the beginning of games — have been common sights in the school’s football stadium since 2003, local officials say. “The cheerleaders are not trying to push a religious cause, to shove religion down someone’s throat,” said local youth minister Brad Scott, who was LFO High’s class president in 2004. “The cheerleaders are just using Scripture to show motivation and inspiration to the players and the fans.”

Look, Barstool is all about religious tolerance.  I’m pretty sure the reason El Pres started this site was as a forum to promote Judeo-Christian values.  But religious beliefs and Bible quotes have a time and a place.  A high school football game is not the time and in front of the cheerleaders is not the place.  People go to football games to watch acts of violence and think lustful, impure thoughts about the cheerleaders.  It’s hard if not downright impossible for dirty old men in the crowd to indulge their sick, perverted cheerleader fantasies when they’ve got New Testament quotes shoved in their faces.  And let’s face it, from a purely football standpoint, there’s nothing about passages out of Philipians that’s going to motivate a kid to throw better blocks, run hard or play to the whistle.  A real motivational sign would be like the one Dan Jenkins wrote about in North Dallas Forty that said “Coeds Don’t Suck Losers Cocks.”  American football has a rich tradition of slutty cheerleaders and we don’t need a bunch of stuck up, Promise Ring-wearing, Bible-thumpers coming in and spoiling our fun.