A group of Tennessee high school cheerleaders is refusing to allow out of state anti-Christian groups to take away a tradition of pre-game prayer before football games.

Oneida High School had been offering prayers over the loudspeaker before the start of football games since 1930.  Two years ago, the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association told schools to stop doing the prayers because of threats of lawsuits from those wanting to remove Christians from society.

The school continued but began to get threats from outside anti-Christianist groups because of the prayers.  So the school replaced the prayers with a moment of silence.  The team, coaches and fans said they could feel a difference in the atmosphere at the games when the prayers stopped.

And that’s when the cheerleaders stepped in.

Cheerleader Asia Canada stood during the moment of silence and began to say the Lord’s Prayer out loud.  The rest of the squad joined her.  Soon, the entire stadium was saying the prayer.

And because it’s student led, the anti-Christianists can do nothing about it.

“The removal of prayer before football games wasn’t an option in my opinion,” cheerleader Kayla King told the Independent Herald. “It’s your option what you do during that moment of silence, whether you say a prayer or not, but ‘as for me and my house, we will worship the Lord.’ I’m thankful for the community I live in and hope to represent it well.”