“Colorado head coach Deion Sanders has yet to officially appear on the sidelines for the Buffaloes after taking the job in December, but he’s already at the center of controversy over his religion.

Sanders was known for expressing his strong belief in God when it came to his coaching style at Jackson State. When he left the Tigers for the Colorado gig, he was mocked for saying that God had sent him to become the coach of Jackson State but left the job anyway.

With kickoff to the 2023 Buffaloes season just months away, Sanders is now in the middle between two religious groups. One group wants Colorado to force him to stop preaching his religious beliefs to his players, while another one warned the university that telling him to do so could infringe on his rights.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation sent the University of Colorado a letter on Jan. 24 about Sanders’ references to Christianity and claimed they were contacted by residents who were concerned players were potentially being pressured to pray during their team meetings.

The letter also pointed to one prayer in question, which read “Lord, we thank You for this day, Father, for this opportunity as a group. Father, we thank You for the movement that God has put us in place to be in charge of. We thank You for each player here, each coach, each family. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”

The group called on the university to teach Sanders about “his constitutional duties under the Establishment Clause” and to “ensure that Sanders understands that he has been hired as a football coach and not a pastor.” The letter urged the school to provide the group that the coach “will not continue to proselytize to his players or subject them to coercive team prayers,” according to The Christian Post.

The school would respond to the letter the next week, saying Sanders was “very receptive to this training and came away from it with a better understanding of the University of Colorado’s policies and the requirements of the Establishment Clause,” according to the Deseret News. The school said if a player had a problem with prayers in the future, it would direct them to the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance.” (Courtesy FoxNews.com)

Who is the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), and why should they be concerned about Collegiate Football Teams participating in prayer?

According to their website:

“The purposes of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc., as stated in its bylaws, are to promote the constitutional principle of separation of state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.”

Down here in Dixie, we still pray at school functions…and that fact drives that idiotic bunch of atheists up in the Great White North, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, absolutely nuts. So much so, that they have made it their mission in life, to sue every school that dares have any sort of prayer at any event, on campus or off.

The FFRF has achieved a modicum of success in our court system. However, at least in the South, school organizations such as the Fellowship of Christian Students and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes are still flourishing.

I remember back in elementary school, every morning we began school by singing “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning” and then, reciting The Pledge of Allegiance. Even remembering that ritual today, I find comfort in it.

In the South, at least in the Mississippi County in which I live, the school day still begins with the recitation of the Pledge, which is led by a group of students, standing around a microphone in the Principal’s Office.

Unfortunately, that is no longer the case in many schools around our blessed land.
Nowadays, good old-fashioned American Patriotism is not considered Politically Correct by the Far Left Democrats who are in charge of our Education System.

And, the same Far Left Democrats have screaming hissy fits over any violation of the mythical “Separation of Church and State”, a phrase which does not appear in our Constitution, or any other legal and binding document for that matter.

So, what is the cause of this 180 degree turn from where we were, as a mostly cohesive society, based on love of God and Country, which I remember so fondly from my childhood, to where we are now as a country comprised, to a certain extent, of individuals, who believe in relative morality, situational ethics, and a malleable Constitution?

Learned individuals have been trying to discern exactly what has caused this Societal and Cultural Decline, and in the process, they have blamed it on everything from poor schools to poverty to malnutrition.

Being a simple man, (Hey, that would make a great title for a rock song. Oh, wait. It was. Never mind.) I believe that because Americans have wanted, for at least 3 generations now, to give their children everything materialistically possible, they have to a great extent, ignored their children’s spirituality.

God’s Word tells us that we, as parents, should

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” – Proverbs 22:6 (ESV)

The Obama Administration and the Biden Administration have tried to step in and fulfill the role of “parent,” making the situation that I’ve been describing even worse.

And now, Coach Deion Sanders is being reprimanded for sharing his faith with the young men in his charge, as Christian Americans have done since the beginning of our Sovereign Nation.

Just like the high school football coach who won his job back thanks to a ruling by the Supreme Court, Coach Sanders has the right to pray in front of his team or to walk out to the 50 yard line and kneel in prayer.

Christian Americans have rights, too.

Until He Comes,

KJ