NEWARK, Ohio – A central Ohio community is planning a public prayer at this week’s high school football game in response to a recent challenge by a group advocating the separation of religion and government.
A resident of Newark is behind the planned public demonstration at midfield following the football game at Licking Valley High School Friday night. The school was recently targeted by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation for the T-shirts worn by band members during a performance recently that said “Salvation.”
In a letter, the group said the shirts send the message to non-Christian students that they are outsiders.
The (Newark) Advocate reports that the high school principal says any plans for a community prayer are not school sponsored.
The newspaper reported that band members wore the T-shirts during a performance at the Millersport Sweet Corn Festival in reference to the choral work “Salvation is Created,” which was a focal piece for the band.
The piece was written by Russian Pavel Tchesnokov in 1912, before the composer was forbidden from writing religious music by the Soviet government in the wake of the Russian revolution. According to the Wikipedia entry on the piece, Tchnesnokov never heard it performed.