The Freedom From Religion Foundation is calling out the Jefferson Davis Parish Schools system in Jennings, La. for using a Christian cross on official district athletics attire.
A concerned community member informed FFRF that the Lacassine High School boys’ basketball team warm-up gear features a cross on the back, additionally noting that these shirts are worn during games.
FFRF contacted the district after learning of this constitutional violation.
“Religious imagery on official school attire sends the message that the district is promoting religion,” FFRF Patrick O’Reiley Legal Fellow Hirsh M. Joshi has written to Jefferson Davis Parish Schools Superintendent John Hall.
It is well settled that public schools may not show favoritism towards or coerce belief or participation in religion. A public school may not use religious imagery to demonstrate favoritism toward Christianity — as the district does here. Further, having minor children wear religious imagery on their assigned uniform may infringe their free speech rights, especially if they would be retaliated against for refusing to wear a Latin cross.
FFRF also points out that student athletes are especially susceptible to coercion. When their school’s athletic program assigns uniforms featuring religious imagery, the students undoubtedly feel that wearing those images is essential to pleasing their team’s coach. That places athletes in a difficult position: They must either express that religious message — against their conscience — or openly dissent at risk of their standing. That ultimatum is exactly what the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause guards against.
Religious coercion occurring within the district is particularly troubling for those parents and students who are not Christian or who are nonreligious. Nearly half of Generation Z (those born after 1996) is nonreligious, which may be quite a few of the district’s athletes.
FFRF asserts that in order to respect the First Amendment rights of students, the district must instruct the athletics department to refrain from using religious imagery on official athletic gear.
“The school district has a constitutional obligation to remain neutral regarding religion,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor says. “The district must not include religious iconography on student athletics attire in order to create an environment welcoming to all students — whether they are religious or nonreligious.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 42,000 members, including more than 100 members in Louisiana. FFRF’s purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
