Satan doesn’t like Christians gathering on campus, I guess.
So, what was supposed to be a small Christian event with students at Auburn University gained some steam and resulted in about 5,000 students taking part in an impromptu baptism event. About 200 students were baptized to massive cheers.
The football coach Hugh Freeze joined in the event and even helped with the baptism. That prompted the Freedom from Religion group to write a letter to the college demanding that Freeze be terminated because it’s a violation of the Constitution…or something.
They know this is bs. They know it because Coach Joe Kennedy just won his case at the US Supreme Court. But you see, it’s sometimes not about winning the case. They just want to make life Hell for Hugh Freeze for being a Christian. They want every professor and administrator to know what he did and hopefully create some momentum against him. Secondly, they want Freeze to cower. They want him to try to avoid trouble by ceasing to mention his Christianity in public.
Thirdly, it’s a warning to the students. Don’t be caught being Christian on campus because bad things will happen.
An anti-religious group has attempted to stifle Christian baptisms at Auburn University in Alabama after a video went viral last week of the school’s head football coach helping with the event.
As a result, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to Auburn University President Christopher Roberts, claiming that the head football coach, Hugh Freeze, helping with the baptisms was a violation of the Constitution’s Establishment Clause, per Fox News.
“These ongoing and repeated constitutional violations at the University create a coercive environment that excludes those students who don’t subscribe to the Christian views being pushed onto players by their coaches,” the statement reads.
However, legal expert Tyson Langhofer, senior counsel and director of the Center for Academic Freedom with Alliance Defending Freedom, suggested that anti-religious group has a “twisted interpretation of the First Amendment.”
“Freedom From Religion Foundation’s twisted interpretation of the First Amendment has the potential to crush both students’ and their coaches’ essential right to live out their faith,” Langhofer said.
Alliance Defending Freedom is one of the most successful Supreme Court litigation firms, winning many cases that specifically deal with the First Amendment and religious freedoms, per the report.
“Public universities are supposed to be the marketplace of ideas and have an obligation to protect and promote free speech and free exercise of religion,” Langhofer added.
The event in question occurred last week, reeling in around 5,000 people, most of whom were students. The gathering took place at Neville Arena on Auburn University’s campus.
“Auburn University is a public university, not a religious one,” the anti-religious group stated.
“It is inappropriate and unconstitutional for University employees to use their University position to organize, promote, or participate in a religious worship event. Nor can Auburn’s coaches proselytize or participate in religious activities with students or hire a chaplain to do so.”
However, Langhofer said that the group’s letter itself is “unconstitutional.”
“As the Supreme Court recently reaffirmed in the Coach Kennedy case, religious coaches and students have the right to engage in religious activities on campus in their private capacity. FFRF’s desire to silence religious students sends a clear message: ‘You are not welcome here.’ That’s unconstitutional,” Langhofer said.
The baptism was reportedly part of the “Unite Auburn” event that featured performances from Christian worship band Passion and included several speakers, such as Jennie Allen, Reverend Jonathan Pokluda, and the lead pastor of Harris Creek Baptist Church in Waco, Texas.
September 25, 2023 at 10:52 am
I cant help thinking of them as bullies who threaten people and institutions in the hopes they cower. When I was in Madison and walked by the Freedom From Reason Foundation…and saw what a hole in the wall it was with a few chunky guys in FFRF t-shirts hanging about, it just made me think it was a bunch of whiney college kids that just made threats. Maybe they do actual litigation, I dont really follow them. But they are worth laughing at.
September 25, 2023 at 2:51 pm
I think that they are just generally miserable people who can’t stand others who are happy and joyful and have a firm faith in something other than themselves. In all of this we must remember something very important. Our faith in God is a gift freely given to us by God. We did not create it, demand it or acquire it by our own merits. It comes from God and not everyone receives this gift. Let us count ourselves blessed that God saw fit to give us grace and pray that others may also receive His grace of faith.
September 26, 2023 at 12:02 pm
England was overwhelmingly a Catholic country when Henry viii began his personal papacy. But with terror and torture, propaganda and pressure, and imprisonment, Good Queen Bess isolated Catholics and forced the poor to choose between starving in prison and their faith, and slowly bled the rich through fines that enriched the Crown. When Catholics rebelled, they were persecuted with renewed vigor. The good that resulted was the English and Welsh martyrs. Resistance movements must recognize the intelligence and perversion of the enemy. If Christians would empty Auburn to support the coach, or, better yet, all Christians fans stand in solidarity with this coach, we could win.
September 26, 2023 at 3:24 pm
O suppose the underlying charge is that the coach is somehow using his position to support a belief system. I bet Auburn is full of profs who demand that you parrot back their belief system or they’ll hold your grade hostage. They never get in trouble
September 27, 2023 at 9:03 pm
Actually, I suspect that Hugh Freeze is simply trying to rehabilitate his image. He is not exactly St. Edmund Campion. Maybe he has repented of his earlier shameful actions, maybe not; regardless, he is not really someone the Faithful should choose as their champion.
Let me ask you, though, Ben — do you actually know anything about Auburn University, or are you just making it up because you “know” that “all universities are the same”? Oh, and very likely that “all univeristy facculty are the same,” too.