Federal Judge Calls Dixie Custom Unconstitutional : Public Pregame Prayers Ruled Illegal

In a decision affecting a time-honored Southern custom, a federal judge here declared Tuesday that public prayers before high school football games violate the separation between church and state mandated by the U.S. Constitution.

District Judge G. Ernest Tidwell, ruling in a suit involving Douglas County High School in nearby Douglasville, acknowledged arguments that the pregame prayers could lend dignity to the games and remind spectators and players of the importance of sportsmanship and fair play.

“However,” he said in the 21-page decision, “the invocations also endorsed Protestant Christian doctrine” and, thus, run counter to the First Amendment ban on government sponsorship of religion.

‘Good Faith Wishes’

“One of the (school board’s) purposes in having and supporting an invocation prior to high school football games in Douglas County was motivated by a desire to satisfy the genuine, good faith wishes on the part of a majority of the citizens of Douglas County to publicly express support for Protestant Christianity,” the judge said.

Kathyrn Shehane, Douglas County school superintendent, said the school board will appeal the decision.

“We have made a good record (in trial testimony) and feel that we will be upheld on our appeal,” she said in a brief prepared statement.

The case arose last fall when Douglas Jager, an 18-year-old senior science major at Douglas County High School, challenged the pregame prayer ritual in a lawsuit along with his father, William, 51, a retired Army sergeant who works as a firefighter at Ft. McPherson, just south of Atlanta.

Restraining Order

Judge Tidwell granted a temporary restraining order against the prayers in September and heard final arguments in the case in December after a trial without a jury.

The younger Jager, who describes himself as an agnostic, attended the games as a saxophonist in the school’s marching band. He testified that the invocations--delivered by local clergymen just before the playing of the national anthem and the opening kickoff--made him feel “highly intimidated.” He told the court that they also subjected him to ridicule from fellow students when he declined to bow his head.

“I’m just real happy about the ruling and happy that this is all over for a while,” he said in a telephone interview from his home.

‘Sense of Fairness’

His father added: “I brought Doug up with certain principles, a sense of fairness and a respect for nature. I realized when he started going ahead with this that I had a responsibility to back him.”

The Jagers’ suit set off a fierce reaction in Douglasville, a community of 7,461 about 25 miles west of Atlanta. “Initially, it was real nasty out here,” the elder Jager recalled. “We were swamped with obscene phone calls and our tires were slashed right here in our carport. But that has mostly died out now.”

Gene Guerrero, director of the Georgia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the Jagers in the case, said Tidwell’s decision should have a major impact on school districts elsewhere that follow the pregame prayer practice.

‘Real Tradition’

“The Douglas County school board’s attorneys claimed at the trial that prayer before the games was a longstanding tradition,” he said. “But the real tradition in our country is the separation of church and state.”

However, Billy Armistead, assistant school superintendent in DeKalb County, one of the numerous Georgia school districts that permit pregame prayers, said no changes are planned there for the time being.

“But if it appears that we ought to do something in the way of changing, then we will,” he said.

In his ruling, Tidwell denied the Jagers’ request for a permanent injunction against prayers at Douglas County High, saying that “no additional restraint” was necessary to enforce compliance with his order.