The Freedom From Religion Foundation is once again calling a constitutional penalty on University of Colorado football coach Deion Sanders due to his ceaseless proselytizing.
FFRF has repeatedly spotlighted over the past two years Sanders’ breach of the wall between state and church. In early 2023, FFRF first wrote to the public university to contend that Sanders must not misuse his position to coerce student athletes to pray or encourage them to subscribe to Sanders’ personal religion. The university assured FFRF shortly afterward that Sanders had been provided “guidance on the nondiscrimination policies, including guidance on the boundaries in which players and coaches may or may not engage in religious expression.” FFRF further contacted the university last September when Sanders persisted in treating the football players like his personal mission field.
Unfortunately, Sanders is carrying on in his unconstitutional ways, forcing FFRF to object yet again. In a March 21 video posted to the official University of Colorado Buffaloes Instagram account, Sanders is seen lecturing student athletes and telling them that “God separated you and chose you for us.” In a separate video also posted on the Buffaloes’ Instagram account on March 21, Sanders is shown giving a speech to players in which he repeatedly references God and religion. He tells players, among other things, “When you can’t tell what time it really is, it’s time to let go and let God direct your path.”
And in pregame footage posted to the Buffaloes’ Instagram account on April 8, Sanders extensively sermonized while acting in his official capacity as a university employee and coach:
Thank you, Lord, just because. Thank you, Lord, because you are who you said you are. Thank you, Lord, just on the strength of. Let’s thank God because he is who he says he is in this world of lies and misrepresentation. God is consistent. God is present.
God is everything and all things. What he’s not, he is not a genie in the bottle, awaiting to grant your wishes and your commands. He don’t get down like that. But what he is, he’s relational and he’s love. Let me say that again. Thank you, Lord. Let’s thank God because he is who he says he is in this world of lies and misrepresentation. God is consistent. God is present and God is everything and all things. He is not a genie in a bottle awaiting to grant your wishes in your command. God is relational and God is love. Let’s go get it today. Thank God just because. I’m the strength. Try not to ask for something every once in a while.
Sanders apparently has not heeded the training that the University of Colorado provided him in 2023 to respect the First Amendment rights of student athletes and comply with nondiscrimination policies, FFRF points out. It urges the university to step in and prevent Sanders from continuing to entangle the public university football program with religion.
“As coach Sanders is aware, school-sponsored proselytizing is unconstitutional,” FFRF Staff Attorney Samantha Lawrence writes to University of Colorado Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer Patrick O’Rourke. “Some federal appellate courts have explicitly extended the scope of the above Establishment Clause cases to college-aged students when institutions create a coercive religious environment.”
Coach Sanders’ authority over his players creates an environment ripe for unconstitutional coercion. Players who wish to stay in Sanders’ good graces will no doubt feel they must submit to his religious commands in order to receive the recognition, playing time, and positions they desire. Additionally, many college football players receive athletic scholarships, and the athletic criteria they must meet to be recruited and remain on the team are largely up to the football program and the discretion of the coaching staff at each school. Any student athlete who speaks out against Sanders infusing the football program with Christianity could risk losing their spot on the team and an incredibly valuable scholarship.
FFRF once more urges the University of Colorado to take action to protect the First Amendment rights of its student athletes.
“Coach Sanders must concentrate on what he was hired for — and refrain from rushing into the treacherous end zone of religion,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 42,000 members and several chapters across the country, including more than 1,400 members and a chapter in Colorado. Its purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
Photo Credit: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Lydia Gordon
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