Atheist group demands coach Deion Sanders stop pre-game prayers with football team

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Monday, October 28, 2024

Head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes football team, Super Bowl winner and NFL Hall of Famer Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders, is coming under fire from an atheist group for holding team prayers and other religious activities.

“It’s come to our attention that Coach Sanders has continued to entangle the university’s football program with religion and engage in religious exercises with students and staff,” the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation wrote in a recent letter to university executives pointing to a post-game prayer with the Colorado Buffaloes team following their win over Baylor University last month.

Prior to the delivery of a prayer by Pastor E. Dewey Smith of House of Hope Church in Atlanta, Georgia, Sanders is recorded declaring to the team: “If you don’t believe in the Lord, you better believe in Him now.”

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Smith then delivered the prayer thanking God for the victory.

“God, we thank you tonight for victory, thank you that you kept us relatively safe. Thank you that in spite of our imperfections you still blessed us, Lord. And thank you for being with us to the end. Lord, some people call it Hail Mary, some people call it karma, some people call it luck, but in my faith tradition we call it Jesus,” Smith said.  

POWERFUL: Colorado HC @DeionSanders leads the team in prayers postgame

“If you don’t believe in the Lord, you better believe in Him now”- Prime

“Lord, some people call it Hail Mary, karma, luck, but in my faith tradition, we call it Jesus,”- @edeweysmithpic.twitter.com/mukc9gHJNF

— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) September 22, 2024

Samantha F. Lawrence, a staff attorney for FFRF, said in the organization's letter that Smith appeared to be serving as the team’s chaplain despite assurances from the university in January 2023 that Sanders had been advised about, and appeared receptive to “the boundaries in which players and coaches may and may not engage in religious expression.”

“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,” Lawrence argued.

“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," the letter further claimed. "The University of Colorado must again take action to protect its student athletes’ First Amendment rights.” 

“Coach Sanders needs to understand that he was hired to coach football, not to force student athletes to engage in his preferred religious practices. He must cease infusing the football program with Christianity. We request notification in writing of the actions the university is taking to ensure that Coach Sanders will cease proselytizing student athletes for good.”

The University of Colorado did not immediately respond Monday when asked for comment about the FFRF’s demand letter.

The FFRF has requested that the university provide all football program, university or athletic department records related to Pastor E. Dewey Smith’s involvement with the football team, including travel plans, itineraries, and financial records, including payments and reimbursements, made to him.

Also requested are records of all university and related policies and records provided to Coach Sanders regarding “making religious remarks, holding or leading prayers, promoting religion, or otherwise entangling the Football Program with religion while acting in his capacity as Head Coach.”