Attack on Christians could unite Gamecocks and Tigers

Clemson football Coach Dabo Sweeney became a Christian  in a sports-related setting, according to Jonathan Jones of The Charlotte Observer newspaper.

"I've never been bashful about telling people I'm a Christian," Swinney says. "That's just who I am."

And he has that right, even if you don't like the Tigers. Gamecock fans, many who are Christians will defend Swinney's freedom to allow Christian inspiration if he feels it's appropriate.

To deny speech because it is not in-line with pop culture, atheists or agnostics is not only un-American, it's un-Constitutional.

But for his faith, Swinney has become a target of the left and the media.

In its headline, Tuesday, the Observer asks: are Sweeney, and fellow Christian Georgia Coach Mark Richt crossing the line for being openly Christian in front of players?

The media is giving voice to FFRF, or the the Freedom from Religion Foundation. It accuses Clemson and

Swinney of allowing (Christian) devotionals, that were organized by the team chaplain and led by members of the coaching staff.

"I mean, that's a lot of praying going on," Annie Laurie Gaylor told Jones.

She is co-president of the FFRF, a nonprofit atheist and agnostic group. "And it's all orchestrated by the authority figures. And that is abusive, she said."

FFRF says "the state-funded school's football program is "entangled" in Christianity, and those decisively Christian actions can be coercive for an impressionable young man.

Gaylor also told the reporter not to end her name with a “D”-- "I like to joke that there's no 'Lord' in my name," she said.

She can demand what you do not do in spelling her name, and Gaylor does not seem to mind telling others they cannot include Christianity in their lives.

Former Clemson coach Tommy Bowden likely said it best, according to the Observer article.

Bowden said “he doesn't believe anything will change with Clemson any time soon. Although, he said, he expects the publicity around the issue will help Swinney's recruiting efforts, making him and the school more attractive for parents who want their sons to follow a religious path.

"I can't understand why an atheist group from Wisconsin will go into the epicenter of Christianity, Clemson, S.C., the epicenter of the Bible Belt and take on a coach that's just won 11 games two years in a row and beaten Ohio State, Georgia and LSU," Bowden said. "Why would they even want to?

"They will get absolutely no support from the secular arena --- the administration, the president, the board. They got no chance. That's why they should pick a battle they can win."

What Bowden may be overlooking, by getting the liberal media in Charlotte to jump on this story, it is a win.