Posted on 11/24/2005 9:52:47 PM PST by Coleus
An award-winning New Jersey high school football coach who was barred by his school district from partaking in pre-game prayers with his players has filed suit alleging that his constitutional rights have been violated.
Marcus Borden's lawsuit, filed with the Middlesex County Superior Court, asks that the court prohibit the East Brunswick school district from enforcing its policy on prayer. Borden wants to be able to silently nod his head during team prayers before pre-game meals with players and to kneel on one knee with the team in the locker room before the games, actions that violate the current policy.
Borden has been the football coach at East Brunswick High School for 23 years and gained national attention in October after he quit his job when told by school officials that he could no longer lead his team in prayer or even be present if his team prayed. Borden rescinded his resignation a week later, saying he would rather fight than walk away.
The lawsuit also complains that if Borden lowers his head when his team prays, even if the student athletes initiate the prayers, he is still in violation of the school district's policy.
"Saying grace" before team meals and "taking a knee" with his team in the locker room before a game are customs that have been practiced at the school for more than 25 years, before Borden became the team's coach, the lawsuit asserts.
Ronald Riccio, Borden's attorney, said the school district's order was unconstitutional and a violation of Borden's rights.
"The prohibition against Coach Borden demonstrating respect for his team and the team prayers undermines his credibility as head coach, is a sign of disrespect and irreverence," Riccio's 26-page complaint states.
The East Brunswick school policy "forces Coach Borden to discriminate against the team prayers and his players, interferes with his academic freedom, interferes with his freedom of association, interferes with his freedom of speech, interferes with his liberty of movement, invades his privacy and violates all that it means, and has ever meant to him, to be a high school football coach in America," according to the lawsuit.
Riccio stated litigation could have been avoided if the East Brunswick school officials had allowed Borden to stand and bow his head during student-initiated and student-led "grace" at team dinners, and let Borden "take a knee" during student-initiated and student-led prayer in the locker room before football games.
The East Brunswick Board of Education referred all calls regarding the lawsuit to the board's attorney, Martin Pachman, who stated that he had yet to review the lawsuit and was not able to comment.
Pachman recently told the New Jersey Home News Tribune newspaper that "if this lawsuit is designed to change the law, I understand that, but I wish they'd do it on somebody else's nickel rather than the East Brunswick taxpayers."
Nationwide, many public school systems are now re-stating their policies and guidelines regarding prayer on school grounds.
When contacted, Borden declined to be interviewed because of his involvement in pending litigation. However, the lawsuit is only one of several difficulties facing the coach and his family.
Following a year-long, multi-county narcotics investigation, police two weeks ago arrested 60 people, including Borden's wife and daughter.
Toni Borden, the coach's wife, was charged with conspiracy to possess and attempting to possess a controlled, dangerous substance -- the prescription painkiller Percocet.
Twenty-two-year-old Brittany Borden was charged with conspiracy to distribute drugs. The police report alleges that Brittany's boyfriend was a leader of the drug ring operating in Central New Jersey and states that she drove her boyfriend to locations where he distributed drugs.
Last year, Marcus Borden won the 2004 Power of Influence Award, an honor given to a high school football coach for his effect on his players, school and community.
Borden has also received the USA Weekend Magazine's 2003 National Caring Coach of the Year award, and he founded the Snapple Bowl, a charity all-star high school football game that raises money for physically and mentally impaired children.
Political correctness is crypto-atheistic.
correction, IS atheistic i.e. anti-christian
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