The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national organization advocating the separation of church and state, wants Auburn University to fire its football team chaplain, calling the position "unconstitutional."

In a letter to Auburn President Jay Gogue, the group this week noted that it had received complaints about sports chaplains at the high school and college levels "for years."

"It makes no difference if the chaplain is unofficial, not school-sponsored, or a volunteer, because chaplains are given access to the team as a means for coaches to impose religion, usually Christianity, on their players," argued the letter, signed by Freedom From Religion Co-Presidents Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor.

"Under the circumstances, the chaplain's actions are attributable to the university and those actions are unconstitutional," the missive concluded.

The team chaplain the organization wants relieved of his duties is the Rev. Chette Williams, whom the website of the Alabama school's athletic department says also serves as campus director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a Kansas-based Christian sports ministry.

Williams was named Auburn's football chaplain in 1999 under then-coach Tommy Tuberville, and his salary is reportedly provided by the Fellowship, AL.com detailed. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, for its part, pointed to media reports indicating that the minister had baptized football players and led the college team in prayer.

"No student athlete should be baptized as part of a public university sports program, or be put in the position of feeling they have to pray to play," Gaylor said.

Auburn University, which enrolls more than 20,000 undergraduate students and is one of the largest colleges in Alabama, defended Williams' role in a statement, Fox Sports noted.

"Chaplains are common in many public institutions, including the U.S. Congress," the school recalled. "The football team chaplain isn't an Auburn employee, and participation in activities he leads are voluntary."

Williams, meanwhile, is not the only chaplain targeted by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which sent letters similar to the one addressed to Auburn to some 20 institutions across the nation, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.