WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a Washington state football coach who knelt on the field and prayed after a game.
The court ruled that Joseph Kennedy, assistant coach of Bremerton High School’s university football team and head coach of the junior university team, was 6-3 on ideological grounds for seven years.
For nearly a decade, Kennedy led post-sports prayers, with students joining him several times. Kennedy said it is his commitment to God to kneel down and say a small prayer after each game in midfield. Concerned about being sued for violating students’ religious freedom rights, Bremerton, Wash. Public school officials told him to stop praying in public, but he refused. Officials put Kennedy on leave and his contract was not renewed in 2015.
Kennedy filed the lawsuit and his case ended in the Supreme Court with the support of conservative activists.
During the oral argument, three other Liberal members of the court compared Kennedy’s prayers to the imaginary prayers of other school officials who would not be allowed. A six-member conservative majority of the court, meanwhile, asked questions comparing Kennedy’s prayers to other, non-religious acts.
Justice Clarence Thomas asked how the school district would react if a trainer “kneels down on the field during the national anthem” to “morally protest against racism” instead of kneeling for prayer.
On Monday, the judge said the coach’s prayer is protected by the First Amendment.
“The Constitution and our best traditions reward mutual respect and tolerance rather than censorship and repression on religious and non-religious views,” Justice Neil Gorsach wrote for the majority.
The lawsuit forced the judge to argue for a balance between teachers’ and teachers’ religious rights and freedom of speech and students’ rights so that they would not be pressured into participating in religious practices. The result can strengthen the acceptance of certain religious practices in a public school setting.
The decision is also the latest in a series of Supreme Court rulings for religious petitioners. In another recent example, a court ruled that Maine could not exclude religious schools from a program that provides tuition assistance for private education, a decision that would make it easier for religious institutions to access taxpayers’ money.
ESPN’s Michael Fletcher contributed to the report, which used information from the Associated Press.