Does scripture belong on the sports field? A volunteer little league coach in Prince George County, Virginia, is under fire after putting scripture on his soccer team’s jerseys.
The religious showdown began when volunteer coach Andrew Collins, a devout Christian, decided to add the words ‘John 14:6’ to the jerseys of his squad of 7, 8, and 9-year-olds.
That verse reads, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
Following complaints from the community, the county threatened to shutter the team’s entire season if they showed up to play in their scripture-themed jerseys.
After an attorney got involved, county officials backpedaled. The county is reviewing their policy on uniform alterations, and allowing the team to play… for the time being.
The Jesus-y Jerseys
The Prince George County Parks and Recreation Department – which organizes the county’s little league games – distributes blank jerseys to teams every year.
For years, the county allowed alterations to the jerseys to include the kids' names, but it also wasn’t uncommon to see the name of a local business on the back of a jersey as a sponsorship. The program’s rules were fairly informal – so long as the message wasn’t obscene or offensive, jersey alterations were allowed without issue.
That is, until the biblical jerseys were unveiled.
Coach Collins makes no bones about it. He's here to proselytize to children, and coaching comes secondary.
“It’s my mission that I can be on the soccer field and teach kids that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life,” Collins explained. “My goal on the soccer field is really just to talk to kids about where they stand with Jesus, and we kick the ball around while we do that.”
Did Parents Consent?
Collins said he received parental consent to add the scripture to the jerseys. However, it appears that not every parent got the message, as at least one was surprised to see the jerseys at a game earlier this month.
“I didn’t feel that that has any place on the soccer field,” said parent Zach Devlin, who does not identify as Christian and who says he was blind sided at the sight of the jerseys at a recent game.
“I’m a big First Amendment supporter. Freedom of religion is important. That’s freedom from religion as well. So, I don’t think it’s appropriate to be proselytizing on the soccer field.” Devlin has since pulled his kid from the little league program.
Christianity Scores a Goal
The situation boiled over earlier this month after complaints to the Parks department piled up. Fearing that the jerseys could be interpreted as a county endorsement of Christianity, the Parks department informed Collins that they were ordering the team blank replacement jerseys.
He was warned: If the team showed up to any games in the scripture jerseys, they wouldn’t be allowed to play. Further violations could put their entire season at risk.
Yet just as Collins was gearing up for a legal challenge against the county, they backpedaled, overturning the jersey ban and instead launching a policy review.
Until the review is done, players may wear their scripture jerseys. County officials issued a statement, saying:
“While previous alterations, such as players’ names or sponsorship logos, have previously occurred without complaint, participation in County-run athletic leagues has not historically included having to make one’s religious preferences known or displayed. As such, the addition of religious messaging on County-purchased uniforms for a County-run program presents complex First Amendment considerations.”
Is Soccer Secular?
On the one hand, the county previously didn’t have any explicit rules prohibiting jerseys with religious messaging. Some claim that any policy changes now would be clear persecution of the Christian faith and a violation of Collins’ First Amendment rights.
Yet some critics allege that the jerseys are already a violation of separation of church and state, tantamount to a state-sponsored endorsement of Christianity. The existence of the jerseys, as well as the coach’s open desire to proselytize, is clearly coercive to impressionable kids, they say.
Others present logical hypotheticals. Would things be the same if the coach was a Muslim, hoping to put Islamic scripture on the backs of dozens of kids? What about if he was a Satanist, printing ‘Hail Satan’ on each jersey?
What is your reaction? Does Jesus belong on youth soccer jerseys?
If puting scripture on a jersey gets the kid's football season scrapped, let's do that on all jerseys nation wide and ban all brutality against children.
Ban childhood football entirely.