c. 2006 Religion News Service

EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. _ A federal judge ruled Tuesday (July 25) that a high school football coach can bend a knee and bow his head while his players recite pre-game prayers this season, ending a dispute that had mushroomed into a nationally recognized test of the separation of church and state.

After nearly two hours of arguments, U.S. District Judge Dennis Cavanaugh sided with the coach, Marcus Borden, declaring “taking a knee” isn’t praying. The judge also said the Middlesex County school district can’t order him to stand still while his players perform a locker room ritual that spans decades.

“Tradition plays a part, and the overall actions and responsibilities of a football coach should be considered,” Cavanaugh said. “For the coach, who is looked at as the glue to hold all of this together and foster team spirit, to not be allowed to participate in these traditions _ even in the passive way _ just doesn’t seem right.”

Cavanaugh’s ruling said the school district’s policy had violated Borden’s constitutional rights to free speech, privacy, personal autonomy, freedom of association and academic freedom.

The ruling fell short of wading into the larger issue of prayer in public schools as some advocates had hoped.

But it represented a victory for Borden, a 51-year-old coach and Spanish teacher at East Brunswick High School who since last fall has battled to keep the post he has held for 23 years. A district policy enacted in October prohibited him from participating in team prayers, a practice Borden contended was unbearable.

“What (the decision) means now is that coaches who don’t know what they can or can’t do now know there is one thing they can do,” said his attorney, Ronald Riccio.

In a statement, the school district said it was “pleased” the case was over and that it had accomplished its goal of getting clarification from the courts. But the outcome it ultimately accepted was the same one it had argued was blatantly illegal by a public employee.

Both sides acknowledged the pre-game prayer was a regular part of the game before Borden took over the team in 1983 and one that is repeated each week in locker rooms across the nation.

“Saying prayers together is part of the fabric of our society that can be seen at local sandlots or at the Super Bowl and throughout America,” Borden’s attorney argued in one filing.

The East Brunswick school board, however, contended that while student athletes have the constitutionally protected right to pray, that privilege did not extend to coaches, who were public employees.

Superintendent Jo Ann Magistro said she learned last September from “upset parents” that the team said a prayer together before the pasta dinner it shared on Friday afternoons before games. Borden later acknowledged he and players also recited prayers in the locker room before taking the field.

Sometimes, Borden said, he led the prayers. “Dear Lord, please guide us today in our quest in our game, our championship,” the typical prayer began, according to a deposition from the coach. “… Please let us represent our families and our communities well. Lastly, please guide our players and opponents so that they can come out of this game unscathed, no one is hurt.”

He said prayers were voluntary, but the district argued the coach’s role in such sessions could alienate or pressure athletes.

“They will become an unambiguous signal that to become part of the `family unit’ that (Borden) strives so hard to achieve, a football player must pray along with his coach and his team,” attorneys Steven Kleinman and Martin Ronald Pachman wrote.

Borden, who led his team to a state championship two years ago, resigned as coach after being ordered to stop praying. He rescinded his resignation and agreed to abide by the new policy so he could resume coaching. But he said he noticed the difference in his first game back.

“I felt as if I were in a straitjacket, like I was not part of the team, not part of the pre-game meal, not part of the school, isolated and alone,” Borden testified.

His lawsuit, filed first in Superior Court in Middlesex County and later transferred to federal court, sought a compromise: Borden said he would refrain from praying, moving his lips or folding his hands, but wanted to silently kneel and bow his head out of respect for the tradition.

“The case was never about him leading or verbalizing prayer,” Riccio said. The school district contended such a ploy was a poorly veiled attempt to do exactly what it ordered the coach not to do.

The coach has never discussed his own religious beliefs and he did not respond to a call seeking comment Tuesday. His attorney said Borden is preparing for the new season. Practice starts Aug. 14.

(John P. Martin writes for The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J. Tom Haydon contributed to this report.)

KRE/PH END MARTIN

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