Bible verses banned from Ga. school football field
By DORIE TURNER
Associated Press Writer

When the Warriors of Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High take the field Friday night, the football team won't be running through the cheerleaders' usual banner bearing a Bible verse.

The school district banned the signs a week ago over concerns they were unconstitutional and could provoke a lawsuit, angering many in the deeply religious north Georgia town of Fort Oglethorpe.

"I'm just kind of unnerved about it," said 18-year-old Cassandra Cooksey, a recent graduate who often prayed with her fellow marching band members before football games. "It seems like the majority of people in our community want this and they don't have a problem with it, so I think they should be allowed to have the signs if they want to."

Several hundred people attended a rally this week supporting the signs, and more than 8,000 people have joined an Internet group backing the display of Biblical messages by the school's cheerleaders. Some of the banners have read: "Commit to the Lord, whatever you do, and your plans will succeed" and "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong."

Catoosa County schools Superintendent Denia Reese banned the long-standing practice after a parent called her. Reese checked with the school board's attorney, who advised her the signs violated federal law because they were being displayed by the cheerleaders during a school-sponsored event.

The signs are expected at Friday night's game against Ridgeland, but they won't be held by cheerleaders. School officials have designated an area in front of the school where the messages can go on display. They say the area is legally protected because it doesn't give the appearance the school is sponsoring religious speech.

"I regret that the cheerleaders cannot display their signs in the football stadium without violating the First Amendment," Reese said in a news release. "I rely on reading the Bible daily, and I would never deny our students the opportunity to express their religious beliefs."

She was not immediately available Friday for comment.
Bill Nigut, southeast regional director for the Anti-Defamation League human rights organization, said the superintendent was acting appropriately.

"There are legal ways for students to have religious observation in a school context and there are illegal ways, and we believe Reese is correct that the football game crosses a line," Nigut said.

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Community cheers cheerleaders for Jesus
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow

Friday night highschool football in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia took a backseat to a battle of another sort in the bleachers and on the sidelines.
 
Since 9-11 the Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe Warrior's cheerleaders have been using scripture verses on the banners that the football team bursts through at the beginning of each game. However, that tradition has been banned by school authorities who fear a hefty lawsuit if they allow the practice to continue. Officials nixed the banners after receiving a complaint from one individual who claims she was offended by the verses. (cheerleaders perform for local news video) (

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)
 
In a surprising turn of events, community members have showed their overwhelming support for the cheerleaders who have since become media celebrities. A local youth pastor, Brad Scott, started a facebook page in their support and organized a rally at a local Chick-fil-a. That rally had to be moved when more than 1,100 supporters showed up. Now in another overwhelming show of support, members of the community showed up to Friday nights football game to cheer the cheerleaders.
 
Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe highschool says they have sold the most tickets ever to Friday night's game. All throughout the bleachers people sported homemade signs with scripture verses and t-shirts emblazened with the school logo and the words "Warriors for Christ." A few enthusiatic male students even painted their shirtless torsos with the school's colors and a scripture verse. (see raw video footage here)
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Jay Spokes brought his entire family out for the event and all were waving homemade cardboard signs that read, "I love Jesus," "Warriors for Christ," and "I am not ashamed of the gospel."
 
"I think the superintendent reacted a little prematurely in banning the signs, I think it was a knee jerk reaction. They were fearful of a lawsuit and I can understand that," he explained to OneNewsNow. But he adds, "[T]hey should research the laws better and actually put it to question...one person's complaint shouldn't stop the whole communities thought process."
 
Spokes also attended the rally earlier in the week and has voiced his opinion on the issue to the school board. Lisa Curtis is the Varsity cheerle

ading coach at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe highschool. She told OneNewsNow that she was grateful for the support of the community and adds that she was "dumb-founded" when she was told her girls could no longer use the scripture verse banners.
 
"It just amazes me what kind of impact our little Bible verse signs have had on the community...the girls just want to thank everyone who has supported them this week," she continues. "We are getting messages from all over the country and we just want to thank you all."
 
Many school employees donned scripture verse t-shirts as well Friday night. The football coaches also sported the shirts and just before the game began the football team prayed on the field and closed that prayer with "in Jesus' name." Another rally is planned for Tuesday night's school board meeting.

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Spiritual spirit squad squelched
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow

A cheerleading team in northern Georgia has come under fire for its controversial banners.

Since September 11, 2001, the Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School 
(

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) cheerleading team in Catoosa County, Georgia, has been displaying banners with scripture verses during football games. One recent banner displayed Timothy 1:7 -- "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline."
 
Now, however, the school has banned the use of the banners since receiving a complaint from a parent.

Brad Scott is a local youth pastor and president of the LFO class of 2004. He is leading the effort to get the banners restored, and says the use of banners with scripture verses is a student-led initiative and therefore does not violate separation of church and state.
 
"We've collected petitions; we have over 1,200 names," he says. "We had a rally [Tuesday night] with over a thousand people showing up in support of the cheerleaders. [And] we plan to go to the school board meeting [next] Tuesday night with our petitions and voice our concern."
 
Legal issues are also part of the mix, Scott adds. "We're talking to legal groups for Christian rights, national groups for support on this, and we have a few local attorneys as well who are helping us with advice," he shares. Scott has also started a Facebook page (

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) in support of the cheerleaders.
 
The youth pastor adds that parents and students will show their support at the upcoming Friday night football game by wearing shirts and holding signs with scripture verses. According to Scott, the school has sold a record-breaking number of tickets to the game.

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Bible verse ban spawns 'wave of support for Christ'
Jim Brown - OneNewsNow

Despite a large public outcry over its decision to censor Bible verse banners held by high school football cheerleaders on the playing field, a Georgia school board is refusing to change its mind. However, the controversial policy has compelled many students to passionately defend their free-speech rights and proclaim their Christian beliefs.

The Catoosa County Board of Education in Georgia decided last night that it will continue to ban Bible-verse banners held by cheerleaders on the Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School football field. The ban was put in place after one woman complained the on-field banners violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
 
Many Christian parents and students in the community have voiced their disapproval of the ban by wearing "Warriors for Christ" T-shirts to football games and displaying scores of posters with Bible verses. And the Board's decision on Tuesday night came despite another round of pleas from Christian parents who attended the meeting.
 
The Chattanooga Times Free Press
(

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) quotes Board chairman Don Dycus, who said: "We adopted a resolution as a board unanimously at our October 1 meeting acknowledging that [Superintendent Denia] Reese had made a difficult but the right decision....that resolution stands."
 
Local youth pastor Brad Scott recently set up a Facebook page and organized a large rally in support of the cheerleaders and their Bible-verse banners. He says opponents of the ban were disappointed with the school board's decision, but do not feel defeated.
 
"We felt a sense of accomplishment because now one sign turned into hundreds of signs that are displayed now in the stands in the stadium," says the youth pastor. "So we're happy with the end result that we've seen, the accomplishment we've seen, because this has turned into a national wave of support for Christ."
 
Scott says the matter has not been completely put to the rest. He is meeting with a local attorney today to discuss other forms of recourse Christians may now have.

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