At the end of August, 2015, I wrote a longish post (see also here) about the Freedom from Religion Foundation’s (FFRF’s) “Pray to Play” report, detailing the incursion of religion into 18 public universities via the establishment of “football chaplains.” These chaplains, 100% of whom are Christian, are hired to pray with the players and get them to play hard for Jesus. They’re also either paid by universities or get perks like game tickets or free travel. This is, of course, a violation of the First Amendment prohibiting excessive entanglement of government—of which public universities are representatives—and religion.

The pdf of the FFRF report is here, the two-page executive summary is here, and the press release is here.

In my earlier post, I showed two videos of the University of South Carolina’s football chaplain, Adrian Dupres, proselytizing—complete with uniformed football players—at a local church. Among the stuff he said was a vigorous defense of Biblical creationism. It’s pretty scary if you’re a secularist. Also, at the time, I wrote this:

Now I wonder if the Department of Biological Sciences at USC knows that their official football chaplain is preaching creationism at church, and probably also to his players as well. Perhaps I’ll let them know.

And I did let them know. I wrote to the chairman of Biology at USC and several faculty. I got the expected response: the department would probably discuss the issue at a faculty meeting. I never heard back beyond that, and I doubt that Biology could strongly affect what happens with the USC “Gamecocks” football team. After all, football is a big deal in universities like USC; biology, not so much.

Now, however, I’m gratified to report that the FFRF, at least, had an effect. According to The State, the local Columbia, South Carolina Newspaper, chaplain Despres has been fired:

South Carolina’s football team has parted ways with longtime team chaplain Adrian Despres. “Adrian was not retained because Coach Muschamp’s philosophy is to have not just one voice, but multiple voices available to assist with the spiritual development of the student-athletes,” USC athletics spokesman Steve Fink said. Coach Will Muschamp had spoken publicly about the move at a Rotary Club meeting in March. While discussing his faith, Muschamp said he prefers a multi-person approach. “There’s no question being a Christian is very important to me,” Muschamp told the group. “That’s not something I push on our players. It’s something I make readily available for our players. We don’t have a team pastor. We have a group of people who will come talk to our players at different times. When you narrow things down with one person and they get sideways with a player or two or three or there’s a portion of the team, I think it creates a little bit of an issue.”

Well, the claims that there’s no “team pastor”, and no compulsory praying, look a bit disingenuous in light of the FFRF’s report, which shows these facts about the Gamecocks:

Despres bragged that “100%” of players attend “voluntary” chapel.

At South Carolina, Chaplain Adrian Despres is paid $4,500 for his “services”. Since 2010, he has been paid a total of $18,000.

Despres’s official duties included: “Speak to Football Recruits and Families on Official and Unofficial Visits about Character Coach Program at South Carolina.”

During the team meetings, Despres preached “a series called ‘Christian Man Laws’ this year [about] how Christian men should man up and stop being sissies for Christ.”

Despres preached religious doctrines that conflict with scientific facts the university teaches to biology students, such as evolution. During that same sermon, Despres claimed to have debated—and despite an in-depth search, no such debates seem available—“some of the top evolutionists in the country on creation versus evolution and I’ve never, by God’s grace, I’ve never lost.”

Well, that’s two down (Virginia Tech stopped using team chaplains in light of the FFRF’s report) and 16 to go. It’s a never-ending battle to keep church and state apart in this land: a whack-a-mole type of endeavor.

Thanks to the FFRF, and to staff attorney Andrew Seidel, for their efforts in this area, and for letting me know the results.