Hugh Kellenberger

The Clarion-Ledger

OXFORD -- A group is questioning the role of religion inside the Ole Miss football program.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Madison, Wisconsin-based group dedicated to the separation between church and state, has sent an open records request to Ole Miss.

The request, dated Wednesday to university attorney Lee Tyner and a copy of which was provided to the Clarion-Ledger, requested the following information:

All football program, university and athletic department policies regarding coach- and clergy-led prayers.

Schedules of religious services or gatherings related to worship, including activities led by team chaplain John Powell.

Email communication between football staff and Powell.

Records related to Powell's travel with the team and any financial payments or reimbursements made to him.

Any job postings for football chaplain, or other positions related to spiritual development of football players.

Any other records related to Powell's work with the team.

FFRF staff attorney Sam Grover said they are trying to determine the extent of public monies being spent on Powell and his involvement with the football program. After receiving a response to the records request, the group could seek further action.

"A lawsuit is never out of the question for us," Grover said. "Having a student, preferably a football player at the school, who is willing to risk that public exposure -- that's often a barrier for us, because what we find in these aggressively religious communities is that it can be dangerous to out yourself as a non-believer. And then beyond that we need to find local counsel."

An Ole Miss spokesman said the school does not have a comment on the matter at this time.

Ole Miss has routinely held faith-based services on Sundays during the school year since coach Hugh Freeze arrived in 2012, and have been using the team meeting room inside the Manning Center for them.

The services are open to the public and completely voluntary, but were captured in an Aug. 29 story in the Washington Post about the intersection of religion and college football. The story describes dozens of players as being in attendance.

Powell has worked with Freeze since the two were at Lambuth from 2008-09, and according to an Ole Miss Fellowship of Christian Athletes bio joined Ole Miss in August 2012.

"The problem with football chaplain is that it's a direct endorsement by the football team, which is a part of the university," Grover said. "The problem comes when it's the university that's getting involved in promoting religion. In this case it appears the university has a football chaplain who is directly involved with the lives of the players. We will know more after the open records request, but it appears this chaplain is there to promote religion and a particular brand of Christianity to the players."

Freeze has been open and honest about his beliefs, and believes in spreading the gospel, quoting a Bible verse on his Twitter account (with more than 73,000 followers) as recently as this morning.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation made a similar request of Clemson earlier this year, though it has not advanced beyond the two entities trading letters about the school's practices under coach Dabo Swinney. A former player was baptized on a Clemson practice field, and Swinney has continued former coach Tommy Bowden's tradition of taking the team to local churches.