Coach Joe Kennedy is a football coach at Bremerton High School in Washington state. He would pray after football games in the center of the field. He prayed with anyone who wanted to regardless of the fact of who won or lost. As he did this, various team members would join him and pray too. Nobody was forced to go out there. Nobody was forced to pray. They did it under their own free will. We still have that in this country, right?
The coach was suspended when he continued to pray before games. Maybe we don’t have as much free will as we used to have.
The Bremerton School District sought to defend themselves saying that the coach was not removed from the field because he prayed. He was removed to avoid the appearance of a school endorsement of religion. The coach did not coerce or even ask the football team members to pray. They just chose to. This is not in any way an endorsement by the school officials.
Coach Kennedy still watches the games from the stands. He still wants to support his team.
Nobody’s constitutional rights were violated. If someone in the stands doesn’t like to see people praying, they can simply go get a hot dog and soda and not look at it. Everyone has free will to pray or not to pray—except Coach Kennedy. He was suspended.
Do you agree with the school district’s decision?
