XPost: soc.retirement, sac.general, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: alt.rush-limbaugh   
   From: up-yours-atheists@oberlin.edu   
      
   The Freedom From Religion Foundation complained high school   
   football coaches in Chatom, Ala. were doing "illegal" activities   
   last month when they oversaw 18 football players get baptized   
   near the field.   
      
   One by one, Washington County High School players walked into a   
   feeding trough filled with water from a garden hose, as a pastor   
   baptized them "in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,"   
   all caught on camera by a staff member of Chatom Baptist Church.   
      
   "What a blessing to end the school year like this," one user   
   wrote on Facebook. Another said: "Praise the Lord! This is   
   awesome."   
      
   But this late afternoon activity on a Thursday in May at Jordan-   
   Wilcox Stadium, applauded and rejoiced by those in attendance,   
   allegedly upset a community member in the town of less than   
   1,200. That person alerted the Wisconsin-based FFRF.   
      
   The group dedicated to the "separation of church and state" sent   
   a letter to the Washington County Schools superintendent May 29   
   demanding a district investigation claiming it is "illegal for   
   coaches to organize or participate in religious activities with   
   students, including baptisms."   
      
   "We request that the district investigate and take the   
   appropriate steps to ensure there will be no further illegal   
   religious events, including team baptisms, during school-   
   sponsored activities," wrote Christopher Line, a FFRF legal   
   fellow. "Coaches and school staff should be instructed that they   
   can neither organize nor participate in religious activities   
   with students while acting in their official capacity."   
      
   Jeremy Dys, deputy general counsel for First Liberty Institute,   
   a religious liberty law firm, told Fox News the FFRF's "shaming   
   high school kids...is pathetic and needs to stop."   
      
   "The Constitution never requires people of faith to hide   
   themselves from public view,” Dys added. “In fact, the ability   
   of students and members of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes   
   to freely exercise their faith in public is the very essence of   
   the First Amendment."   
      
   The Bulldogs are not the first team to come under hot water for   
   baptisms from the FFRF. In Villa Rica, Ga., the local First   
   Baptist Church baptized a coach and several players after   
   holding a football-themed worship service called "Gridiron Day"   
   in 2015. It was blasted as "unconstitutional" by the Wisconsin-   
   based group.   
      
   Washington County Schools did not respond to a request for   
   comment.   
      
   https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/alabama-football-players-   
   baptized-atheists   
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)