As someone who struggles to accept his own atheism, so long as those signs are being done completely at the hands of the students and they don't harrass anybody who don't wish to participate, I don't care a whole lot.

Though this particular use seems to suggest that calls them in Christ for the purpose of winning football games. If they wish to designate their god as surprisingly petty then who am I to argue.

That does seem to be a rather loose interpretation of Phillippians 3:14.

I think I could go for a God of the petty. Help me make that next traffic light, let the toast land butter side up, let my team win a few games.... Yeah. I'd pledge my ever lasting soul to a God like that.

It's like all the athletes and whoever who thank god after they score/win.

Okay, so maybe not the most socially conscious choice of the cheergirls, but it's not like it was the school that plastered the phrases across the side of the gym and forced students to memorize them. The girls did it on their own, and last I checked, that is their Constitutional right. If the phrase fits and is inspiring, then why not use it, regardless of the source? If the Qur'an said somewhere to "Rush, rush, rush my brothers, for the End Zone is sacred and the ultimate praise is to score!" then that'd be a good one too, even for non-Muslims. (I'd quote a real Qur'an verse, but I don't know any.)

Ultimately, I guess I have to wonder why stuff like this freaks people out so much. It's just some phrases on butcher paper, not a forced re-education camp.

Wow, you really need to re-read my posting. I was pointing out that such communities see their Christian majority as a justification for ignoring church/state separation - hence they don't see any problem with religious banners at public school events. I wasn't giving my own view. My stated atheism should be a clue that I am quite in sympathy with the rights of minorities. There is often good reason to abhor the tyranny of a majority.

In a climate where there is a well organized, well funded, and distressingly successful by some measure effort to force mythology to be taught as a valid scientific theory, and scientific theory to be denigrated as "just a guess" no more valid than the magic in a 6000 year old book, you can forgive people for being sensitive about such things.

I guess this is as good a place as any to let everyone know that today is Blasphemy Day. So, allow me to let loose with my own caustic blasphemy:

The Holy Ghost wears smelly socks.

There. That was purging.

Some Christians will use the following to justify their anti-gay rights stances:

"They're cramming their lifestyle down our throats."
"They're so in your face with their parades and rainbow flags."
"They're trying to recruit children to their ways."

I mean, the same thing could be said about Christians.

In my opinion, these cheerleaders parading around a huge poster with a quote from a religious book at a sporting event, to me, is cramming a lifestyle down people's throats in front of other children.

I think my throat-cramming remark was misunderstood. It was strictly a comment about language usage. I'm only saying the throat-cramming comparison is extremely overused. It strikes me as a cliche in need of refreshing. (And you are right, I have heard the faithful say it in response to contact with gay-ness) Any time I hear it, though, I tend to assume that the person saying it isn't thinking things through very carefully - just giving a knee-jerk response. I'm all for more thought-out and incisive come-backs.

And to repeat - I'm a major church/state separation proponent.