SEC: Ole Miss – Group looks in to team’s religious practices

A group is questioning the role of religion inside the University of Mississippi football program, expressing concerns that a football chaplain is an inappropriate endorsement of religion by a public university.

“A lawsuit is never out of the question for us. It can be dangerous for a player to out themselves as a non believer in these aggressively religious communities.” -FFRF leader Same Grover

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Madison, Wisconsin- based group, dedicated to the separation between church and state, has sent an open records request to the University of Mississippi football program.

The request, which was dated Wednesday, September 3, 2014, was sent to the university attorney Lee Tyner and requested the following:

• All football program, university and athletic department policies regarding coach and clergy led prayers.
• Schedules of religious services or gatherings related to worship, including activities led by team chaplain John Powell.
• Email communication between football staff and Powell.
• Records related to Powell’s travel with the team and any financial payments or reimbursements made to him.
• Any job postings for football chaplain, or other positions related to spiritual development of football players.
• Any other records related to Powell’s work with the team.

The request follows an Aug. 29 story by The Washington Post highlighting the role of religion in Ole Miss football.

FFRF staff attorney Sam Grover said the group is trying to determine how much public money is spent on chaplain John Powell and his involvement with the football program. Grover said the group could sue or seek further action.

“The problem with football chaplain is that it’s a direct endorsement by the football team, which is a part of the university,” Grover said. “The problem comes when it’s the university that’s getting involved in promoting religion. In this case it appears the university has a football chaplain who is directly involved with the lives of the players. We will know more after the open records request, but it appears this chaplain is there to promote religion and a particular brand of Christianity to the players.”

Ole Miss has routinely held faith-based services on Sundays in the team meeting room inside the Manning Center since coach Hugh Freeze arrived in 2012.

John Powell, Mississippi’s chaplain and a Fellowship of Christian Athletes staff member, leads a service for athletes in the football meeting room at the Manning Center. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)

The services are open to the public and completely voluntary, but were the main focus of the Post story back in August. The story captured the services and described dozens of players in attendance.

Powell has worked with Freeze since the two were at the former Lambuth University, a Methodist institution, in 2008-09. According to an Ole Miss Fellowship of Christian Athletes biography, Powell came to Ole Miss in August 2012.

Freeze has always been open about his religious views and  often quotes Bible verses on his Twitter account.

The foundation made a similar request of South Carolina’s Clemson University earlier this year, though it has not advanced beyond the two entities trading letters about the school’s practices under football coach Dabo Swinney. A former player was baptized on a Clemson practice field, and Swinney has continued former coach Tommy Bowden’s tradition of taking the team to local churches.

“A lawsuit is never out of the question for us,” Grover said. “Having a student, preferably a football player at the school, who is willing to risk that public exposure — that’s often the barrier for us, because what we find in issues like these, where the community is aggressively religious, it can be dangerous to out yourself as a non-believer. And then beyond that we would need to find local counsel.”

Ole Miss and Coach Freeze have no comment on the issue at this time.