Skip to main content

University Reverses to Allow Team's Cross Decals

Share This article

The Arkansas State University football team can celebrate a major victory for free speech and religious liberty.

The university is now allowing football players to remember their fallen colleagues with memorial cross decals on their helmets after initially banning it.

One of the young men being remembered by the football team was Markel Owens, a former player at ASU who was killed in a robbery.

Senior Counsel Jeremy Dys with the Liberty Institute spoke with CBN News anchor/reporter Mark Martin about the implications of the case.

The other was the team's equipment manager, Barry Weyer, Jr., who died in a car crash.

Originally, the university forced the team to remove the cross decals after a lawyer sent a letter to ASU saying the crosses violated the separation of church and state.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation joined in, pressuring ASU as it has in many religious rights cases around the country.

The organization said the crosses are on government property and therefore unconstitutional.

On the other side, the national non-profit legal group, Liberty Institute, represented an anonymous player, and in the end, the university agreed with Liberty Institute.

"The university officials and the Arkansas Attorney General did the right thing restoring the religious liberty and free speech rights of the players to have the original cross sticker design if they so choose, and we commend them for doing so," Liberty Institute Litigation Director Hiram Sasser said in a written statement.

"Above all, we are glad to see that Markel Owens and Barry Weyer will have another year on the football field at Arkansas State because of the compassion and courage of their teammates," he said.

Earlier this week, American Family Association leaders say they sent an Action Alert to its friends and supporters, encouraging them to contact the university about the banning of the cross.

AFA leadaer say more than 25,000 supporter emails flooded the office of the president and university's legal counsel that urged ASU's leadership to abide by the Constitution and stop religious discrimination.

"This is a victory for all Americans to celebrate. We thank the Liberty Institute for their work in this case and for so quickly reaching out to the university," AFA president Tim Wildmon said. "And we also thank Arkansas State University for rightly protecting the religious liberties of their players by reversing their original mandate to remove the cross from the team helmet."

Share This article

About The Author

Mark
Martin

Mark Martin currently serves as a reporter and anchor at CBN News, reporting on all kinds of issues, from military matters to alternative fuels. Mark has reported internationally in the Middle East. He traveled to Bahrain and covered stories on the aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Mark also anchors CBN News Midday on the CBN Newschannel and fills in on the anchor desk for CBN News' Newswatch and The 700 Club. Prior to CBN News, Mark worked at KFSM-TV, the CBS affiliate in Fort Smith, Arkansas. There he served as a weekend morning producer, before being promoted to general