• Cheerleaders can quote scripture on banners, judge rules

    Dave Ryan/AP

    Kountze, Texas, High School cheerleaders and other children work on a large sign last fall. The high school's cheerleaders were told they could not use scripture verses on their signs at the football games, but a judge has ordered that ban lifted.

    By Juan A. Lozano, The Associated Press

    A judge ruled Wednesday that cheerleaders at a Southeast Texas high school can display banners emblazoned with Bible verses at football games. 

    State District Judge Steve Thomas determined the Kountze High School cheerleaders' banners are constitutionally permissible. In a copy of the ruling obtained by Beaumont station KFDM, Thomas determined that no law "prohibits cheerleaders from using religious-themed banners at school sporting events." 

    The ruling ends the case in Thomas' court. A lawsuit over the banners had been scheduled for trial June 24. 

    In October, Thomas granted an injunction requested by the cheerleaders allowing them to continue displaying religious-themed banners pending the lawsuit's outcome. Thomas at the time said the school district's ban on the practice appeared to violate the students' free speech rights. 

    School district officials had barred the cheerleaders from displaying banners with religious messages such as, "If God is for us, who can be against us," after the Freedom From Religion Foundation complained. The advocacy group said the messages violated the First Amendment's so-called Establishment Clause, which bars the government - or a publicly funded school district, in this case - from establishing or endorsing a religion. 

    Attorneys for the cheerleaders, who were supported by the Liberty Institute, a Plano, Texas-based nonprofit law firm, argued the girls' First Amendment rights to free speech were being violated by the school district and that the messages on the banners were not asking anyone to believe in Christianity or accept the faith. 

    The cheerleaders in Kountze, located about 95 miles northeast of Houston, received support in their lawsuit from various state officials, including Gov. Rick Perry and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who filed court papers seeking to intervene in the lawsuit on behalf of them. A Facebook group created after the ban, Support Kountze Kids Faith, has more than 45,000 members.

    The school district eventually reversed course and supported the banners, a move that prompted Thomas to issue his summary judgment so as to avoid a trial. 

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Texas cheerleaders can keep Christian banners, for now, judge rules

    Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott vows to fight for cheerleaders banned from using Bible verses on football banners. KXAN's Ignacio Garcia reports.

    By Kari Huus, NBC News

    A judge ruled Thursday that a group of cheerleaders fighting for the right to display biblical-themed banners during high school football games in their small Texas community could continue to do so, at least until the battle goes to court next June.


    The cheerleaders in Kountze prompted a complaint to the school district in September when they rolled out banners with scriptural references, such as "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me," and "But thanks be to God which gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

    A letter of complaint from the nonprofit Freedom from Religion Foundation prompted Kountze Independent School District Superintendent Keven Weldon to bar the religious banners.

    The foundation argued that when the religious sentiments are displayed by cheerleaders in school uniforms before large groups of students at official school functions, the banners violate the constitutional separation of church and state.

    "It is not a personal opinion of mine," Weldon told the Houston Chronicle after making his initial decision. "My personal convictions are that I am a Christian as well. But I'm also a state employee and Kountze (school district) representative. And I was advised that that such a practice (religious signs) would be in direct violation of United States Supreme Court decisions."

    But parents and attorneys for the girls, supported by the nonprofit law firm, the Liberty Institute, filed a lawsuit arguing that the scriptural banners should be allowed as constitutionally guaranteed free speech. The judge granted a temporary injunction on enforcement of the ban.

    On Thursday, District Judge Steve Thomas extended that injunction until a trial scheduled for June 24.

    The cheerleaders gained heavyweight support Wednesday when Texas Governor Rick Perry and State Attorney General Greg Abbot made high-profile endorsements of the religious messages.

    "We will not allow atheist groups from outside of the state of Texas to come into the state, to use menacing and misleading intimidation tactics, to try to bully schools to bow down at the altar of secular beliefs," Abbot said in a statement Wednesday.

    The Freedom from Religion Foundation, which is a national group based in Madison, Wis., said that it did not expect a favorable ruling on the case in Texas courts, and that it hoped to take the case to federal court.

    "If the school district drops this, what we would like to do is sue the school district, but we have to have a plaintiff," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Madison, Wis.-based organization.

    But she said that finding someone to be named in the lawsuit in Kountze, a predominantly conservative Christian community with a population of about 2,100, is a challenge.

    "People who are in the community are afraid to come out of the closet," said Gaylor. "Our complainant is not able to be the plaintiff for that reason."

    A Facebook page supporting the cheerleaders had more than 48,300 members on Thursday.

    "Our little town is sticking together and standing behind our kids!!!" the introduction to the page states. "Someone has tried to prevent our cheerleaders from ...using religious scriptures on their run-through signs at the football games. This was all led by our children, and they made the decision to give the glory to God this year. We, as a community, will stand up for our kids and make sure they do not lose their voice and their rights in this."

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  • Police: High school cheerleaders suspended for hazing incident in Utah

    By Sevil Omer, NBC News

    Nine Utah high school cheerleaders are accused of smearing peanut butter on a new squad member who has a peanut allergy during the hazing of a dozen younger girls, police officials say.


    Ogden Police Lt. Scott Conley said the nine cheerleaders at Ogden High School have been suspended in the May 4 incident. A separate investigation will determine if any other students provoked the treatment of the girls, he said.

    During the alleged hazing, the cheerleading group was surrounded by at least 30 other classmates, mostly boys, Conley told msnbc.com.

    “I don’t have the exact number of how many were watching, but in this age of cellphones someone was recording it,” Conley said.

    Conley said investigators were trying to determine if the incident fits the crime of hazing, a misdemeanor offense. Parents of the victims have refused to press charges, but Conley said it was not up to them to decide and that the investigation continues. He said the teens involved are minors and the case would be handled in juvenile court.

    Conley said nine senior class cheerleaders invited 12 incoming members to an Ogden home for a pizza party, but took the younger girls to a local park to celebrate earning a position on the squad. There, the senior cheerleaders blindfolded the girls and ordered them to do push-ups, sit-ups and other exercises while covering them with ketchup, mustard, flour and peanut butter, he said.

    “During the course of all this, the blindfolded cheerleaders were also squirted with a liquid that was initially reported as being urine,” Conley said. “But we haven’t been able to determine that, but now some are saying that the liquid was pickle juice.”

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    Conley said the girl with the peanut allergy suffered a reaction and was treated, but has recovered.

    School officials said the senior cheerleaders were suspended for between one to five days, depending on their involvement.

    "We want all of our students to know that we want them to not only get an education in our district, but also enjoy other activities, and have a great, whole school experience," Ogden School District spokeswoman Donna Corby told the Salt Lake Tribune. "In my opinion, this has clouded the experience for our incoming sophomores, and I feel badly about that."

    Attempt by msnbc.com to contact Corby was unsuccessful on Thursday.

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