This was an inappropriate use of this coach's position of power over minors. The school administration should suspend him or fire him immediately. I am Christian and cannot think of many worse ways to take the Lord's name in vain than to attempt to hold sway over other people's children (yes they are still children) by proselytizing and encouraging them join "the club" instead of allowing them to choose their own best path toward faith for themselves.

I don't blame the parents one tiny bit for being furious. I'd be looking for an attorney in a heartbeat - not to punish the coach, but to be sure the school put policies into place that guaranteed such an abuse of power never happened again in that district. And of course, it all just leads to confusion for the teens. Neither parents nor teens should have been put into this situation in the first place. The coach had no business taking them to his church or even discussing his religion with them. He was their coach - not their pastor. This was intimidation plain and simple - otherwise why were the parents not consulted?

How stupid or fanatical is this guy to think that parents shouldn't have the right to have a say in whether their child is carted off in a public school bus to join in a religious ritual in our secular country? This was not purely a matter of free choice for these team members. Of course they wanted to fit in and so followed the lead of an authority figure. I don't mind that they were baptized. I wouldn't even mind if they did it without their parents' knowledge at age 16. But that encouragement should have come from within - not from a public school teacher who makes decisions about whether or not they are able to succeed on a school sports team.

Cenk is absolutely right. If the coach had been Muslim, there would have been an army of Liberty University Law School crazies descending on this school like flies on a cow pie. It would be non-stop coverage by Fox News with Sean Hannity's eyeballs popping out and dangling in front of his face. Of course, they are going to go crazy anyway if the offended parents bring suit or demand his suspension, claiming oppression of Christians, and evidence of the rise of communism and threats to our Judeo-Christian heritage and blah blah.

Poor Jesus, what conceit is perpetuated in his name.