Tennessee School Caught in Illegal Shift
The Freedom From Religion Foundation started objecting in 2012 to illegal prayer at South Pittsburg [Tenn.] High School at football games, where the prayer blared over the public address system, according to a local complainant who contacted FFRF.
Rebecca Markert, senior staff attorney for the national state/church watchdog, wrote April 12, 2012, to Mark Griffith, director of Marion County Schools in Jasper, about the unconstitutional practice and concern about it taking place at other athletic events.
Getting no response, Markert sent follow-up letters on May 31 and July 16. before Marshall Raines Jr., an attorney representing the school district, eventually replied. Raines asked FFRF to provide the name of the complainant “to determine whether your organization has standing to raise this issue and to properly investigate the assertions contained in your letter.”
FFRF asserted by return letter that there was no need to identify the complainant. “Marion County Schools can confirm the practice of prayer before football games without knowing who told us,” Markert wrote. “FFRF would not be pursuing this issue at all if it had not been brought to our attention by someone who attended a game and was offended by its religious content.
“We hope you will understand why the complainant contacted us rather than the administration on this matter,” added Markert. “The family would prefer that their identities be held in confidence so that there is no negative interaction between the complainant and administrators at the school.”
To that, Raines responded that state and federal laws bar the school district from retaliating. “Therefore the alleged fear of negative interaction is without merit and provides no basis to withhold information necessary to determine whether there is standing to bring a complaint.”