Alabama —
The Prattville Parks & Recreation Department took action to ensure that coaches would no longer be forcing youth softball players in the city to recite an explicitly Christian prayer at the end of games and practices.
A concerned parent reported that the city’s softball league had been requiring youth players to recite the Lord’s Prayer. On or around April 11, the softball league’s opening day ceremony commenced with a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer led by the city council’s president, and FFRF understood that all players present were expected to participate in the prayer. Additionally, the complainant stated that “most games and practices are concluded with forced prayer, requiring all players to circle and hold hands,” and the prayers are “led by umpires and coaches.” Reportedly, a coach told players, including youth players, that they “needed to go home and learn the Lord’s Prayer because they weren’t reciting it well enough.”
“The fact that the city is requiring youth players to learn and recite the Lord’s Prayer is particularly concerning,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote. “Youth-athletes are especially susceptible to coercion, and the relationship between youths and their coaches is inherently ripe for coercion.”
After receiving the letter, Parks and Recreation Director Kellie Carter emailed FFRF to assure that the prayers would be halted. “Prattville Parks and Recreation Department does not and will not require, organize, coerce or direct the recitation of prayers by participants, coaches, officials or staff during league activities,” she wrote.
