High school football coach prays at midfield, now in Supreme Court religious liberty case

[Lorewarn]

https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/33783970/how-unknown-high-school-football-coach-landed-center-supreme-court-religious-liberty-case

 

 

Former Bremerton High School assistant football coach Joseph Kennedy says he never wanted to become a symbol of the religious right, or to have his name mentioned by political figures including Sen. Ted Cruz and former President Donald Trump.

All he wanted, he says, was to connect with young people by coaching football, and to connect with God by saying a brief midfield prayer after each game.

"I'd take a knee and thank God for what the guys just did and the opportunity to be a coach," Kennedy told ESPN, adding: "I wanted to hang out with my players and develop these young men."

Yet the 52-year-old finds himself out of coaching and in the midst of a raging legal battle ignited when he insisted on taking a knee at midfield to pray after games, often with students. Bremerton public school officials fired him in 2015 after he refused to stop his on-field prayers, which they said violated the Constitution's prohibition against government endorsement of religion.

 

Bremerton's athletic director made clear to Kennedy the prayers were against the rules, prompting Kennedy to post on Facebook, "I think I just might have been fired for praying" -- although at that point he was still employed. That was enough to transform Kennedy's tussle with the school into a cause célèbre. The school district received "thousands of emails, letters and phone calls from around the country" regarding Kennedy's prayers, according to court papers.

 

If Kennedy wanted to continue praying after games, the letter concluded, he needed to do so separate from students and in a way that was not obvious to onlookers. At one point, Kennedy said, school officials offered to accommodate him at home games by allowing him to pray in the press box above the stadium's bleachers, or inside the school, which required walking several hundred yards and up several flights of steps.

Kennedy said he stopped the public prayer for one game. But as he was driving home afterward, he regretted giving in to what he saw as "pressure to break his commitment to God," his lawyers said in their Supreme Court petition. He said he turned his car around, returned to the empty stadium and with tears running down his face, delivered a silent prayer from the 50-yard line.

 

 

 

Thoughts on this legally and ethically? 

 

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven... And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

[BigRedBuster]

I don't have a problem with it as long as he's not forcing players to do it with him.

[JJ Husker]

15 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

I don't have a problem with it as long as he's not forcing players to do it with him.

This^^^
If he’s not forcing his players to participate, I see absolutely no harm.

 

The bible verse @Lorewarn posted may apply to why/how this guy is choosing to pray but it doesn’t have anything at all to do with the school or government infringing on his right to practice his religion as he sees fit. If he wants to do it on the 50 yard line after games, fine, just don’t require anyone else to participate. IMO the school is wrong here.

[Lorewarn]

10 minutes ago, JJ Husker said:

This^^^
If he’s not forcing his players to participate, I see absolutely no harm.

 

The bible verse @Lorewarn posted may apply to why/how this guy is choosing to pray but it doesn’t have anything at all to do with the school or government infringing on his right to practice his religion as he sees fit. If he wants to do it on the 50 yard line after games, fine, just don’t require anyone else to participate. IMO the school is wrong here.

 

 

My guess is that the Supreme Court will probably rule on his side, and I think that's the right move constitutionally. I guess there's some argument that the public presence of it could create an implied social pressure to participate, but I doubt that will stand up legally.

[ColoradoHusk]

My son's baseball team played Valor Christian high school (big private school in Colorado, high school of the McCaffreys for context) this season.  After the game, Valor had a prayer circle around the pitcher's mound, and they invited my son's team (public school) to join them.  It's a totally different issue because Valor Christian is a faith-based school, where the separation of church and state really doesn't apply.  I also don't think there were any players or coaches from my son's team who declined to join the prayer circle, but I can see how some players would feel there is an "implied pressure" to join them and be uncomfortable joining the prayer circle.

[knapplc]

They've been praying at midfield after Husker games for decades. If anyone had a problem with that around here, I'm sure it would have been mentioned by now.

[ColoradoHusk]

Just now, knapplc said:

They've been praying at midfield after Husker games for decades. If anyone had a problem with that around here, I'm sure it would have been mentioned by now.

That prayer is representative of the FCA, which is a sub-set of players and coaches of the football teams.

[knapplc]

7 minutes ago, ColoradoHusk said:

That prayer is representative of the FCA, which is a sub-set of players and coaches of the football teams.

 

We're talking about using a public space for a secular ritual. Not sure what membership in FCA would change about that.

 

The kind of person likely to complain about praying at midfield isn't going to concern themselves with that.

[ColoradoHusk]

6 minutes ago, knapplc said:

 

We're talking about using a public space for a secular ritual. Not sure what membership in FCA would change about that.

 

The kind of person likely to complain about praying at midfield isn't going to concern themselves with that.

Fair enough, but the prayer after the NU games at midfield is clearly a sub-section of the football rosters from both teams, and not the entire team.  If it was the entire team out there, it would be viewed as these players are being "forced" into a prayer situation.

 

When NU played Penn State the week after the Jerry Sandusky issue and firing of Joe Paterno, Ron Brown led a prayer prior the game where both teams got together at midfield.  I didn't have an issue with it, but there were people who thought it was inappropriate.  After the game, I think Brown and the other coaches said it wasn't a prayer and more of a "time of reflection" or something to that effect.

 

 

 

 

[knapplc]

3 minutes ago, ColoradoHusk said:

Fair enough, but the prayer after the NU games at midfield is clearly a sub-section of the football rosters from both teams, and not the entire team.  If it was the entire team out there, it would be viewed as these players are being "forced" into a prayer situation.

 

When NU played Penn State the week after the Jerry Sandusky issue and firing of Joe Paterno, Ron Brown led a prayer prior the game where both teams got together at midfield.  I didn't have an issue with it, but there were people who thought it was inappropriate.  After the game, I think Brown and the other coaches said it wasn't a prayer and more of a "time of reflection" or something to that effect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The coach at issue in the OP's case wasn't forcing his entire roster to pray, either. He just did his thing, and sometimes some students joined in.

 

He was fired after the Admin told him he - and he alone - could not pray at midfield, and that while prayer was OK after a game, he would have to do it somewhere else.

 

He kept praying at midfield after games and was fired.

[Lorewarn]

13 minutes ago, ColoradoHusk said:

When NU played Penn State the week after the Jerry Sandusky issue and firing of Joe Paterno, Ron Brown led a prayer prior the game where both teams got together at midfield.  I didn't have an issue with it, but there were people who thought it was inappropriate.  After the game, I think Brown and the other coaches said it wasn't a prayer and more of a "time of reflection" or something to that effect.

 

 

 

Not sure if Brown said that or not, but if so it's definitely a lie - that was an explicitly Christian prayer. (there's video where you can hear his words). I'd be curious to hear from someone well educated on constitutional law on this one, but looking back 11 years later it feels entirely inappropriate to make this moment explicitly Christian; imagine the backlash if a player decided not to go out for that moment.

[JJ Husker]

53 minutes ago, Lorewarn said:

 

 

My guess is that the Supreme Court will probably rule on his side, and I think that's the right move constitutionally. I guess there's some argument that the public presence of it could create an implied social pressure to participate, but I doubt that will stand up legally.

I’m guessing you are right and he will win. I’m also guessing any so called implied social pressure has already been settled by the courts. Coaches and players have been doing this in for as long as I can remember. I didn’t realize anyone still thought this could be a problem. I’ve seen it at virtually every HS or college game I’ve ever attended. The only problem would be if anyone was forced or coerced into participating.

 

On the Valor Christian thing, it doesn’t have any bearing if they are a Christian/religious school or if it’s the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) or any subset of players. Free people can pray in public if they choose to do so.

[commando]

wondering what his chances of winning would be if he was leading a muslim instead of christian prayer at midfield? 

[JJ Husker]

7 minutes ago, Lorewarn said:

 

 

Not sure if Brown said that or not, but if so it's definitely a lie - that was an explicitly Christian prayer. (there's video where you can hear his words). I'd be curious to hear from someone well educated on constitutional law on this one, but looking back 11 years later it feels entirely inappropriate to make this moment explicitly Christian; imagine the backlash if a player decided not to go out for that moment.

IMO it doesn’t matter if it’s interpreted as explicitly Christian or not. I’d guess most of these midfield prayer deals mention Jesus Christ and/or God. I’d also imagine anyone who has a problem with that would simply not participate and there would be zero backlash.

 

IIRC Ameer Abdullah was muslim and he had no issues with Ron Brown or these prayers done in the name of Jesus Christ. Fact is a large percentage of people/players are Christian and that’s how they pray. It’s not done to exclude anyone or to make anyone uncomfortable. However, I would agree that he was lying if he said Christ was not mentioned but I think he probably meant it was not exclusively Christian in nature, meaning anyone was welcome to participate. A subtle but important difference.

8 minutes ago, commando said:

wondering what his chances of winning would be if he was leading a muslim instead of christian prayer at midfield? 

Should be the exact same chance 

[RedDenver]

I'm fine with the coach praying on the field after the game. OTOH the school offered him several other accommodations that he ultimately refused. So his claim of "But as he was driving home afterward, he regretted giving in to what he saw as "pressure to break his commitment to God," his lawyers said in their Supreme Court petition" is pretty flimsy. Seems like him being seen praying is more important than the actually praying, which might run into separation of church and state issues.