Public high school football players get baptized on school field, sparking First Amendment debate

Florida public high school football players got baptized on a school field last month, which has sparked a First Amendment debate on freedom of religion and the separation of church and state.

Brevard Public Schools said the baptisms took place July 18 after an off-season football conditioning session at Astronaut High School in Titusville, Florida Today reported. Titusville is just under an hour east of Orlando and a few miles west of the John F. Kennedy Space Center.

'I could not be more proud that 25 young adults gave their lives to Christ and the kingdom grows! ... The community is overwhelmingly rejoicing with these young adults! God will use it for good!'

Video of one of the baptisms shows a player sitting in a metal tank filled with water. A man tells the player he's going to baptize him "in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit." The man then dips the player's head backward into the water, and pulls his head back up again as he tells the player, "Risen in new life." The crowd around the tank then applauds.

The caption of the Instagram post containing the video indicated that 25 players were baptized. The post drew a number of comments as well; one commenter asked, "Why is religion making its way into schools? This isn’t a religion school ... Hmm. I don’t like this." Another commenter declared, "That is awesome. Praise God!"

Brevard Public Schools didn't know about the baptisms until Monday, Florida Today reported, citing district spokesperson Janet Murnaghan.

"The event was not a school sponsored activity," Murnaghan said. "It’s our understanding that it was student driven."

The post's caption also said Brevard School Board chair Megan Wright's church performed the baptisms, and that 25 players took the plunge.

Florida Today said Wright didn't respond to its request for comment but noted that she said on her personal Facebook page that while she had "no part" in the baptisms, the moment was a happy one.

Megan WrightImage source: Brevard (Fla.) School Board website

"I could not be more proud that 25 young adults gave their lives to Christ and the kingdom grows!" Wright wrote, according the paper. "... The community is overwhelmingly rejoicing with these young adults! God will use it for good!"

Florida Today said Astronaut High Athletic Director Matthew Ahlstedt declined to comment.

More from Florida Today:

Students, teachers and other employees at a school can engage in private religious expression within the school, according to the U.S. Department of Education. However, public school employees can't lead activities like prayers or devotionals, and they can't try to persuade students to participate in, or not participate in, religious activities, according to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Students, on the other hand, can engage in religious activities with their peers and try to convince other students to join them.

Florida law generally aligns with federal law, saying that students may organize religious activities. School personnel can participate in religious activities on school grounds, as long as these activities are initiated by students before or after the school day, if the activities are voluntary and if they don't conflict with school personnels' responsibilities.School districts are also required to give religious groups the same access to their facilities that they would give to secular groups without discrimination based on the group's religion.

Anything else?

July's baptisms were far from the first time such an event took place:

• When two student-athletes were baptized on a Tennessee public high school football field in August 2019, a "concerned area resident" got in touch with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which in turn fired off a letter demanding the district "stop promoting and endorsing religion to students."
• A few months prior, the FFRF objected after a video depicted "several football players" being baptized on Alabama public school property.
• The FFRF prevailed in September 2015 when a Georgia school district acknowledged that an event during which more than a dozen football players were baptized on public school property violated official policy.

(H/T: OutKick)

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