Texas leaders support cheerleaders' biblical signs

Cheerleaders used their faith-based signs at a football game held at Kountze High School on Sept. 20. PHOTO GALLERY: Mixing faith and football. Cheerleaders used their faith-based signs at a football game held at Kountze High School on Sept. 20. PHOTO GALLERY: Mixing faith and football. Photo: Randy Edwards Photo: Randy Edwards Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Texas leaders support cheerleaders' biblical signs 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

AUSTIN - The state of Texas, with Gov. Rick Perry and Attorney General Greg Abbott front and center, is throwing its considerable weight behind high school cheerleaders in their court fight to continue displaying Bible verses on banners at high school football games.

"The First Amendment does not demand hostility toward religion," Abbott said at a Wednesday news conference with Perry to announce that Texas is intervening in the lawsuit to support the Kountze High cheerleading squad.

The two state leaders were flanked by photos of the school's team breaking through a banner emblazoned with the scriptural phrase, "If God is for us, who can be against us?"

Kountze football players have run through the Bible-themed banners at their games, bringing a debate about religious freedom and the First Amendment to the town of 2,100 near Beaumont.

The banners prompted a complaint on constitutional grounds from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which said it was acting to protect the separation of church and state after a concern was raised by a local resident.

Superintendent Kevin Weldon banned the signs, with a lawyer for the district saying school officials are Christian but were simply trying to follow the law.

The cheerleaders' families filed a lawsuit recently against Weldon and the district, obtaining a temporary restraining order to allow them to continue to use the signs on an interim basis.

A hearing on a temporary injunction to keep the signs going is scheduled Thursday in state district court in Hardin County.

On the eve of the hearing, Abbott and Perry were proudly defending the pairing of faith and football, two pillars of Texas.

Perry said he visited with the cheerleaders by Skype before Friday's game to lend support. "I just told them I was proud of them for standing up for their beliefs," he said. "If you think about it, the Kountze cheerleaders simply wanted to call a little attention to their faith and to their Lord. The Lord does work in mysterious ways, so they are accomplishing their goal."

Abbott attacks group

Abbott lambasted the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, accusing it of using "menacing and misleading intimidation tactics to try to bully schools to bow down at the altar of secular beliefs."

"This is student-led expression, and that's perfectly constitutional," Abbott declared.

The foundation said that Abbott was bullying atheists. Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the foundation, said the signs were at a school-sanctioned event: "This isn't a party in their backyard. We wouldn't be complaining about that.

"These cheerleaders represent the school district, and government speech may not endorse religion," she said. "They are supposed to represent school spirit. They are not supposed to represent the spirit of Jesus."

Tom Brandt, the Dallas attorney representing Kountze Independent School District, said the district's decision to ban the banners was a straightforward effort to interpret what officials understood to be the law at the time.

Another Texas case

He cited the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in a case involving Santa Fe ISD in Galveston County, which held that student-led prayers at a public high school game violated the Establishment Clause, as the most important decision with respect to the case. The court case also was referenced by the Texas Association of School Boards, which advised Kountze to ban the signs.

"It's hard for us to figure out how the banners aren't analogous to the situation with speech in Santa Fe," Brandt said.

Brandt said the school superintendent and board members are Christian, and that they didn't want to violate anyone's rights by either endorsing a religion or being hostile toward a religion.

"We are trying to walk a thin line," Brandt said.

Constitutional law

Abbott's court petition in intervention said the state has "an undeniable interest" in defending the constitutionality of Texas laws, citing in particular a law requiring school districts to treat students' voluntary religious expression in the same way as other expression.

Brandt said that in the district's response to the lawsuit, the attorneys argued that the Supremacy Clause in the U.S. Constitution would supersede any state laws. He said the decision will ultimately boil down to U.S. constitutional law.

Abbott, in a previous letter of support for the cheerleaders sent to Weldon, cited a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that upheld students' right to pray as part of their speech at a graduation ceremony.

pfikac@express-news.net

erin.mulvaney@chron.com