FFRF reminded an Oklahoma public school that proselytizing to student athletes is unconstitutional. On July 2, FFRF Patrick O’Reiley Legal Fellow Christopher Line wrote to Gore Public Schools Superintendent Lucky McCrary to request that the district not allow its football program members to be used as a captive audience for evangelists. On June 5, Gore High School football players had attended a camp that included a religious “testimony” by evangelist Tyson Simon, an area representative for the Western Arkansas Fellowship of Christian Athletes. According to the Resident Press, “Simon was the vehicle, and God was definitely the focus, the message and the reason” for the high school football team camp at Hackett High School in Arkansas.
McCrary wrote to FFRF on July 7 to confirm that he has “informed our coach that any time a situation arises that may infringe upon any student’s rights, he has authority to remove our students from the situation.”
