School prayer finds its way to the Supreme Court

by Emmitt Barry, with reporting from Washington D.C. Bureau Staff

(Worthy News) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear Cambridge Christian School v. Florida High School Athletic Association, effectively letting stand a lower-court ruling that bars two Christian schools from offering a brief pre-game prayer over a stadium loudspeaker — even though both teams wanted the prayer and the event was between two private Christian schools.

Without comment, the justices refused certiorari, leaving the conservative legal community deeply disappointed and raising renewed concerns about the uneven protection of religious expression in the public square. The move leaves in place the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that characterized the prayer as “government speech,” even though the prayer would have been voluntarily offered and fully initiated by private Christian actors.

A Tradition of Prayer, Suddenly Banned

The case began after Cambridge Christian, a private school in Tampa, played a state championship football game in 2015 against another Christian school. Both institutions requested a simple, voluntary prayer over the PA system — a tradition Cambridge Christian had long practiced.

But the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA), acting as a state entity, rejected the request. FHSAA director Roger Dearing argued at the time that the Citrus Bowl was a “public facility … predominantly paid for with public tax dollars,” and that allowing Christian players to pray over the loudspeaker would constitute an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.

Religious liberty advocates have long countered that viewpoint, noting that a private religious prayer — initiated, delivered, and requested by private groups — is not government speech, and that banning it actually discriminates against religious expression.

Lower Courts Bless the Ban, Despite Earlier Reversal

Cambridge Christian sued in 2016, represented by First Liberty Institute. After an eight-year legal battle, mixed rulings, and several appeals, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit ultimately upheld a district court decision against the school, declaring that the association was regulating “its own expression.”

Judge Ed Carnes wrote that because the PA system was government-controlled, the prayer was government speech — a conclusion First Liberty says contradicts basic First Amendment protections.

Jeremy Dys, senior counsel at First Liberty, blasted the Supreme Court’s decision not to intervene:

“The Eleventh Circuit’s decision to label the prayer as government speech abandons the foundational promises of the First Amendment that are meant to guarantee individual freedom.”

Florida Has Already Passed a Law Fixing the Issue — but Too Late for This Case

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation in 2023 explicitly allowing sports teams to give brief opening remarks — including prayer — before high school athletic events.

But for Cambridge Christian, today’s Supreme Court denial means the final word in their case has been written: religious speech, when delivered through a government-owned loudspeaker, can be silenced even when all participants voluntarily agree to it.

Conservatives See a Troubling Pattern

The Court’s refusal to hear the case stands in stark contrast to other recent decisions that have expanded religious freedom, including protection for public school coaches who pray privately on the field.

But unlike the Kennedy v. Bremerton case, which affirmed an individual’s right to personal prayer, Cambridge Christian dealt with religious expression from a group, shared publicly. Conservatives warn that if the state can declare voluntary religious speech “government speech” simply because it uses a microphone, then the state can censor nearly any religious expression in public venues.

For many faith-based families, the ruling only strengthens the perception of a growing double standard — where secular speech is protected, but Christian expression is increasingly marginalized.

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