Pennsylvania: Jack Henzes, the head football coach of the undefeated Dunmore High School Bucks, has been pressured to stop praying with his team before each game, which has been their long standing tradition. The school received a complaint from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). The FFRF, an atheist legal group that promotes strict separation of church and state and educates the public on matters relating to atheism, agnosticism, and non-theism, complained in June to the school district.
"When a public school employee acting in an official capacity organizes, leads or participates in team prayer, he effectively endorses religion on the district's behalf," the letter from FFRF to the school district's administration stated.
The FFRF claimed they have received complaints from a local resident who stated it’s an endorsement of religion. Dunmore Superintendent John Marichak replied to the group's complaint in a letter dated 31 October and he said they directed Coach Henzes to be sure that he did not partake in any such behavior. In response to Marichak's letter, FFRF attorney Liz Cavell told the Times-Tribune that her organization is pleased with the action the school has taken to alleviate the situation.
Coach Henzes told local news station in his defense that he only prayed with his team to ask God to protect the all players from injury during the games. He is not the only one who was disappointed for the end of 30-year-long tradition, but his players vowing to continue praying before games even if that means doing so without him. Some players even publicly showed their support of the coach. "I'm very religious myself and I believe that it's a tradition that we need to keep it going. It's a shame that it got called off, but it is what it is," Chris Murray, a junior at Dunmore High School, told WBRE-TV.
After that, one of Henzes' former players, Sal Marchese, defended his former coach in an interview with WNEP and said that Coach Henzes teaches life lessons beside football. He added that it is only a distraction from team’s undefeated season.
Photo Credits: End Times Headlines
