Cheerleaders with Bible Verses

Gosh, there are so many good stories in the news today!  Stories such as this:

Cheerleaders with Bible Verses Set Off a Debate

Essentially, a group of high school cheerleaders in an East Texas town have been painting run-through banners with Bible verses for this year's football games.  Their intentions seem fairly innocuous; from the article:

Rather than the typical slogans reading “Scalp the Indians” or “Pluck the Eagles” that they considered too negative, they came up with what they felt were more inspiring phrases. The first one read: “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”

Regardless, the Kountze Independent School District and the superintendent ordered the cheerleaders to stop painting Bible verses on the banners, claiming it violated the law on religious expression at public school events.


The whole thing makes me think about how there are so many sides to a story . . .  And probably no one person can think of every single side.  For my part, I'm with the superintendent; I don't think the cheerleaders should write Bible verses on the banners.  Yes, I'm a Christian, and yes, I support the First Amendment.  But do I think it's appropriate to write religious excerpts on a huge piece of paper for football players to run through?  No, I don't.

And yet.  The cheerleaders don't use school funds to create the banners.  They have a right to free speech just as much as the next person.  If they and their classmates and their town generally support such usage of Bible verses, why shouldn't they create the banners they want?

It's so tricky, and it makes me feel the same way I did when I watched the Presidential Debate that happened on Wednesday.  That is, I'm glad I'm not a judge.  I'm glad other people want to do jobs I don't want to do.

And yet.  That sentiment doesn't feel good enough.  Do I just let the people who care more about things do the acting?  Do I take a stance and passionately do something about it?  Do I just believe what I want and teach my kids to believe what I believe, too?

This obviously goes beyond painting Bible verses on high-school football banners . . .  I just don't know how much to get involved sometimes.  When I die, will God say, "Sara, you lived a good life, but you should've participated more in society"?  And maybe I don't even really care if God asks me that; maybe I care that I'll ask myself that.

What do you think, readers?


Thing I'm thankful for: that any of you ever read to the end of my posts.  Sometimes what starts off as simple thoughts turn into free associations that are paragraphs long!