Is there any way to allow prayers at school games?
Contrary to public opinion, prayers are not banned at public school sports events. However, prayers based on a single religion and which form part of the game schedule are prohibited. A prayer or similar recitation at the start of each game is probably possible; however, the format would have to be changed in order to make it constitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court has defined three criteria that must be used to determine whether an involvement between church and state (or religion and public schools) is constitutional. It is often referred to as the “Lemon test” because it was stated in the court’s ruling in Lemon v. Kurtzman, 1971.
