The Swinney Switch: Clemson Football Coach Declines To Attend Fundraiser F/ Anti-LGBT Group

Americans United Blog

The Swinney Switch: Clemson University Football Coach Declines To Attend Fundraiser For Anti-LGBT Group

South Carolina’s second-highest paid employee was in a bit of a predicament last week. He has been accused in the past of using taxpayer money to proselytize, and now he finds himself under fire thanks to an award from an organization with a history of attacking LGBT rights.

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Unfortunately, Swinney has a history of alleged church-state violations. The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed a complaint about Swinney last year accusing him of bombarding his players with religious activities including official team prayers and Bible study, as well as arranging to have players bussed to local churches for Sunday services.

There also seems to be some dispute over whether or not the football team has an official chaplain. FFRF said Clemson’s chaplain, a former player named James Trapp, is a state employee who is proselytizing in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

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Swinney’s mixing of faith and football attracted the attention of a local Religious Right group called the Palmetto Family Council. The Palmetto Family Council says on its website that it works with both Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council. Its stated mission is to “transform the culture in South Carolina by promoting the values and virtues of marriage, the traditional family model, and sexual purity.”

The group planned to present Swinney and other “South Carolina defenders of religious liberty” with awards at a fundraiser to be held tomorrow. Apparently the Palmetto Family Council believes that a state employee using taxpayer dollars to proselytize at a public school is an example of “religious liberty” being exercised. They are quite mistaken.

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Swinney initially said he would attend the fundraiser on behalf of his foundation only. But bowing to pressure, he changed his mind the following day. The matter seemed resolved last week – until Religious Right allies expressed their displeasure with that decision. State Rep. William Chumley (R-Spartanburg) and six other members of the South Carolina House of Representatives wrote Swinney a letter in which they attacked the football coach for not going to the ceremony.   

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