Arkansas State University football players volunteered to wear printed crosses on their helmets in memory of a fallen teammate, but protests complaining about their religious symbolism forced them to remove or modify them.

Jennifer Kabbany at The College Fix has the story:

Arkansas State Football Players Forced To Remove Helmet Memorial Crosses

They wanted to honor their fallen team member. Instead they were forced to remove or modify little memorial crosses off their helmets because someone was “offended.”

Yes, Arkansas State football players were told by campus suits to remove or alter the white crosses on the back of their helmets that honored former player Markel Owens and equipment manager Barry Weyer, who passed away this year.

Even their athletics director called BS on the play. USA Today reports:

[AD Terry] Mohajir said the original idea for the decal came from a leadership committee of players and that wearing it was completely voluntary, which is why he approved it in the first place.

“Any time our players have an expression of faith and wanting to honor two members of the football program, I’m 100% behind them,” he said. ​

He also said in a statement that “I am 100 percent in support of our coaches’ and players’ expression of faith, as well as their choice to honor the two individuals associated with our team who passed away by voluntarily wearing a cross decal on the back of their helmets. Unfortunately, we have received a complaint that use of the cross violates the Constitutional prohibition against separation of church and state.”

A campus attorney “wrote an e-mail to Mohajir saying she found no specific legal cases that addressed crosses on football helmets but recommended that the bottom of the cross could be cut off so that the symbol was a plus sign,”according to USA Today.

Atheist activists strike again, and campus officials are all too quick to fold rather than stand up for the rights of their students. Not to mention, a cross is an international symbol of memory and respect for the fallen – not necessarily always the Christian cross.

Speaking of which, “Owens was shot and killed in January in a double homicide. Owens put himself in harm’s way while attempting to defend his family as two masked intruders broke into his home. Weyer was killed in an automobile accident following the conclusion of the 2013 season for Arkansas State,” NBC reports.

May they rest in peace.