The University of Tennessee has decided to continue its tradition of opening home football games and other events with prayer despite complaints from a national atheist group, which claims it violates the separation of church and state.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation had written to UT Chancellor Jimmy Cheek, insisting the offering of prayers violated a 1997 U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decision – Chaudhuri vs. State of Tennessee – that struck down sectarian prayers at public universities. However, Cheek announced that “the university will continue to allow prayers before university events.”
