Deion Sanders attacked by anti-religion group for Colorado team chaplain – legal expert says he can have one

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Why Deion Sanders, Colorado are under heavy pressure vs. Colorado State | The Herd

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Colorado football coach and NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders came under fire by an anti-religion group, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), over his use of a team chaplain. Sanders had Pastor Dewey Smith pray over the football team after its win against Baylor University on Sept. 22.

The FFRF released a scathing four-page letter condemning Sanders, making claims that having Smith do the prayer counted as "unconstitutional religious activities," as he leads a football team at a public university. 

"Coach Sanders’ team is full of young and impressionable student athletes who would not risk giving up their scholarship, giving up playing time, or losing a good recommendation from the coach by speaking out or voluntarily opting out of his unconstitutional religious activities – even if they strongly disagree with his beliefs," the letter read. 

"Coaches exert great influence and power over student athletes and those athletes will follow the lead of their coach. Using a coaching position to promote Christianity amounts to unconstitutional religious coercion."

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Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders before the game against the North Dakota State Bison at Folsom Field. (Ron Chenoy-USA Today Sports)

It isn't the first time the FFRF has targeted Sanders for his displays of honoring and practicing Christianity. 

When Sanders first became the head coach at Colorado in 2023, the FFRF raised concerns about his previous open display of faith with his team. This resulted in the university giving him additional training on the boundaries of religious expression in public institutions. The university revealed in a statement that Sanders had received training on nondiscrimination policies and establishment clause requirements after his hiring. 

But this time, an organization has stepped in to defend Sanders. The First Liberty Institute has issued a response to the FFRF's letter, arguing that Sanders has the legal right to bring prayer into his team's locker room. 

Keisha Russell, a constitutional lawyer with First Liberty Institute who has worked as a federal law clerk on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, told Fox News Digital that there is legal precedence for why Sanders has the right to bring a chaplain into the team's locker room. 

"FFRF's letter is beyond inaccurate," Russell said. "The cases that we do have about chaplains programs and the government providing chaplains in public life, there are a lot of cases about it, and it's clearly allowed." 

While there have been no Supreme Court cases that focused specifically on a chaplain in a public school football locker room, Russell believes that if Sanders' case was elevated to that level, he would win easily, with evidence from a previous case.

In June 2022, the Supreme Court sided with Bremerton High School football coach Joe Kennedy after he was suspended and later fired because he prayed a brief, quiet prayer after football games. First Liberty Institute filed a lawsuit against the school district, arguing that banning coaches from quietly praying, just because they can be seen by the public, is wrong and violates the Constitution. On Sept. 1, 2023, Coach Kennedy returned to the field and knelt in prayer after the game.

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Colorado head coach Deion Sanders before the North Dakota State game, Aug. 29, 2024, in Boulder. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

"If you combine that with what the Supreme Court has recently said about religion and students, and particularly the last coach Kennedy case, I think it's pretty clear that these students are old enough to kind of differentiate for themselves what they want to do in that situation, and I don't think there's anything wrong with their coach inviting one in for inspiration," Russell said. "The practice is definitely constitutional, and it's highly likely that they would uphold this practice as proper under the First Amendment." 

Sanders has said he devoted himself to Christianity shortly after his first divorce in 1998, from his ex-wife Carolyn Chambers, with whom he had his first two children, Deion Jr. and Deiondre. Sanders opened up about his devotion to Christ during an interview on "Running Wild" with Bear Grylls in November 2023.

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Coach Deion Sanders points to the scoreboard from the sideline against CSU in the Rocky Mountain Showdown at Canvas Stadium on Sept. 14, 2024, in Fort Collins, Colorado. (Cris Tiller/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

"That's when I went through my first divorce in which the only things that I knew that truly loved me were my two kids. Now they're gone, now they've been taken away. It was devastating, and I went through suicidal thoughts, a suicidal period," Sander said. "I ran this car off the side of the highway, and at the bottom, I thought this car would just flip, and it didn't flip, and I was still there. Shortly after that, I just had to come to the Lord with my hands up and say, 'I'm done. I can't do it anymore. You got me. I give up. God, you take me.'"

During an introductory press conference last year commemorating his position as new head at UC, Sanders praised God.

"Out of all the persons in the world, God chose me," Sanders said. "For that, I thank Him; for that, I love Him; for that, I magnify Him; for that, I glorify Him; for that, I praise Him; for that, I owe Him. Each and every day, I'm trying to please Him," 

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