Ky. High School Restarts Football Game Prayer Tradition Despite Atheist Complaints

A Kentucky school district has renewed its long-standing tradition of saying prayer before its high school football games despite demands from an atheist group.

The Bell County High School previously engaged in a pre-football game prayer lead by a local pastor before the exercise was disbanded by the Freedom From Religion Foundation back in 2011.

After some students and teachers requested that the school allow the prayer to be re-introduced ahead of this football season, school officials agreed. At the start of a recent game, a student led the pre-game prayer over the loud speaker.

"It's been a long-standing tradition here at Bell County High School that there be prayer at the football games. Then there was obviously someone who was opposed to it," Samantha Johnson, a teacher at Bell County High School, told WKYT. "The prayers were simply usually praying over the players and their safety. There was nothing offensive in the prayers."

Although the Freedom From Religion Foundation continues to object to the prayer practice, the school has argued that the pre-game prayer is completely constitutional, especially since students must organize the entire event, including renting their own sound system to broadcast the prayer.

"They're basically on their own," Yvonne Gilliam, superintendent of the Bell County School District, told the Lexington Herald Leader. "All we're doing is allowing students the freedom of expression if they so choose," Gilliam added.