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Summarized by Kent Larsen
ACLU Examining Mountain View Coach's Blessings
Salt Lake Tribune 23Mar00 D6
By Lya Wodraska: Salt Lake Tribune
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- The ACLU's Utah chapter says it may look at a
High School girl's basketball coach's practice of giving LDS
blessings of comfort to team members before games. The ACLU learned
of the practice from a Salt Lake Tribune column published during the
Utah state tournament in February. The column described the coach's
practice.
The ACLU says it has received many calls complaining about the
blessings, given by Mountain View High School girls basketball coach
Dave Houle in what he describes as a 'voluntary and private setting.'
However, the ACLU does note that none of the calls came from Mountain
View players or parents, "We're seriously concerned it is a violation
of the separation of church and state," said the ACLU's Utah chapter
director Carol Gnade. "We'll continue to collect complaints, then
determine if we should do an investigation."
Houle has since been instructed by Mountain View Principal Bill
Delaney to discontinue the practice. Delaney consulted with the
School District, and determined that the practice violate's the law,
"He has been told to never do it again, because it is against the
law," Delaney said.
But Houle resents the interest in the matter, "First of all, I don't
feel like it is anybody's business," he said. "I'm not in any hot
water about it. I'm LDS and so are the kids and they were blessings
of comfort and not of sickness. I don't care what the ACLU or what
anybody else thinks." He says that until the current fracas, no one
has ever complained about the practice, which is something many LDS
parents do for their children. He says it was never meant to offend
anyone. "Nobody was forced and nobody was pushed into doing it, but
certain individuals wanted it," Houle said. "These were just LDS
children who were uptight before a game and wanted a blessing of
comfort."
Houle has become more and more annoyed at the dispute over the
blessings, "It infuriates me that we have all these problems out
there in the world and they're worried about what we're doing in high
school that is voluntary," he said. "I haven't heard any complaints."
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