Bible-Verse Ban Gets Bronx Cheer from Group of Texas Cheerleaders

Teen cheerleaders sue a Texas school district over ban on religious writings on school banners

No bawdy banter from a group of teenage cheerleaders in Texas, but they are raising quite the row all the same.

Fifteen cheerleaders and their parents have banded together to sue school officials in the tiny Texas town of Kountze over the high school and middle school squads being banned from displaying Bible verses and other religious themes on school banners.

The ban has embroiled the city in a debate over God, football and cheerleaders’ rights.

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The district's superintendent, Kevin Weldon, and other school administrators ordered the cheerleaders to keep Bible verses off the banners, because they believed doing so violated the laws against religious expression at public school events. In response, 15 cheerleaders and their parents sued the school district and Weldon claiming that restricting the students from writing Christian banner messages violated their religious liberties and free-speech rights.

The state's attorney general has even offered to step in and defend the cheerleaders.

On Thursday afternoon, the two sides met in court. It was such a high-profile occasion that a police officer with an assault rifle and binoculars was stationed on the courthouse roof.

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