When I read about Penn State and Nebraska football players and coaches praying  for the victims of the repulsive child abuse at Penn State in the middle of the field before the game started last Saturday, I wondered whether some extremists would object that the opening prayer violated the Establishment Clause (I will refrain from the obvious comments about college football being a state religion, prayer or no prayer).

Interestingly, I cannot find (yet!) any blog posts or op-ed pieces criticizing this alleged “breach of the wall of separation of church and state.”  Even though the event had coaches paid by state universities leading football players in prayer at a state-sponsored football game, in a state-funded facility, no one is (yet!) filing a lawsuit because they were offended by being subjected to watching others pray at the game.  Now, the public relations instincts of those advocating “strict separtation” probably realize that they would look like uncompassionate whiners if they criticize what the football players and coaches did, so they are keeping their mouths shut.

However, one atheist blogger did complain that they prayed at all, and I think his remarks reveal the deeper issues at work when people react to a great tragedy with collective public prayer and the related Establishment Clause issues.  Hemant Mehta, a self-identified atheist, wrote in his blog post  that praying to God was a waste of time because it didn’t do anything:

Why bother with the prayer in the first place? What purpose did it serve other than to let a bunch of people who feel helpless pretend like they’re doing something that’s making a difference?

     Elsewhere in his post he repeats this theme by criticizing the footballers’ actions as a “moment of silence” rather than a forceful vocal objection to child abuse:  We have too much silence about child abuse, he argues.  This was not a “moment of silence,”  either figuratively or literally.  The football players prayed out loud.  Maybe Mr. Mehta was making a rhetorical point to contrast the “silence” of those who knew about the child abuse with the need to voice vociferious opposition to it.  Good point, but don’t distort the facts to do so.

And I think the event showed people ”shouting” against child abuse.  It is highly unusual for the players of the competing teams at a major college football game to gather for any reason at midfield before the game starts.  That act alone, even if they had all merely stood there silently, sends a loud message that we collectively shattered and brokenhearted over this great evil, and do not want it to happen again.  There was nothing silent about it, and Mr. Mehta creates a phoney “either pray to God or actually speak out against child abuse” dichotomy.

The reason the football players prayed collectivley was because people strive to give meaning to evil events.  Before they can work to make something redemptive come out of a great tragedy, they need hope that it is even possible.  That is why they seek God for answers. Many people believe what the Bible teaches that God works evil events to result in good outcomes. Even if Mr. Mehta disagrees and believes prayer is a vain act because there is no God, he comes across insensitive to the people trying to work through their emotions as they are shaken by this horrible series of revelations of what happened at Penn State’s football program.

These kinds of events why people have public prayer and shows why I doubt the Founding Fathers intended to prohibit it with the Establishment Clause. What happened at Penn State’s game last Saturday reminds us that many people  turn collectively for help from God when they face a common tragedy or a great challenge.   President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, on the first day of the Normany invasion on D-Day in 1944, went on the radio to lead the nation in prayer, asking God’s help as allied military forces “set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.”

It is important that the government vigiliant protect the rights of people who don’t want to pray in these events.  Government coercion to participate in prayer or in other activities that violate their conscience, violates the Constitution.  However, I have seen no coercion forcing the football players to pray.

It would be an extreme and warped application of the Establishment Clause if the village atheist of Happy Valley or a group of  strict separationists would have been able to convince a federal court and stop the prayer time by the players and coaches of the Nittany Lions and the Cornhuskers simply because they were offended.  And to all the young boys who suffered at Penn State, we grieve for you and pray that we can find effective ways to not allow it to happen to others.