Washington -- June 27, 2022 Today the Supreme Court supported a football coach from Washington State who wanted to pray on the field following games. Joseph Kennedy, who spent seven years as the head coach
of the junior varsity team and served as an assistant coach for the varsity football team at Bremerton High School, won the case 6-3 along ideological lines.
Kennedy presided over prayers following games for almost ten years, and students frequently joined him. Kennedy claimed he made a vow to God to kneel and offer a quick prayer just at midfield following each game. Bremerton, Washington, public school administrators urged him to stop praying aloud out of fear that they might face legal action for infringing on students' rights to exercise their religion, but he refused. Kennedy was placed on leave by authorities, and his contract wasn't renewed in 2015.
Kennedy filed a lawsuit, and with the help of conservative activists, the Supreme Court heard his case.
The three more liberal members of the court likened Kennedy's prayers to fictitious prayers of other school administrators during an oral debate, which is not permissible. While this was going on, the court's six conservative majority members compared Kennedy's prayers to other nonreligious acts.
Justice Clarence Thomas questioned the school district's reaction if the coach chose to kneel on the field during the national anthem in "moral opposition to racism" rather than for a prayer.
On Monday, the judges ruled that the First Amendment permitted the coach's prayer.
According to Justice Neil Gorsuch, who spoke for the majority, "The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike," wrote Justice Neil Gorsuch for the majority.
The issue had the judges struggle with how to strike a balance between students' rights to be free from peer pressure to engage in religious rituals and teachers' and coaches' rights to exercise their free speech and religion. The conclusion might make some religious behaviors more acceptable in a public school environment.
The result is also the most recent in a string of victories for religious plaintiffs at the Supreme Court. Another recent instance was the court's determination that Maine cannot exclude religious schools from a program that provides financial aid for private education. This ruling may make it easier for religious organizations to receive public funding.
Wnctimes by Marjorie Farrington