In football coach prayer case, students' religious liberty is at risk

Former high school football coach Joe Kennedy and First Liberty Institute's Jeremy Dys provide updates on their fight for religious freedom before the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court may be about to fumble a major case involving a former high school football coach who sought to impose prayer on his players. 

The court has taken up the case of former high school football coach Joe Kennedy and his allegations that the Bremerton School District in Washington State violated his free speech and free exercise rights. But the religious liberty that is actually at stake belongs to student athletes who are at the mercy of their coach. Public school coaches cannot be allowed to abuse their position of authority to impose religion on students. 

Kennedy’s attorneys have sought to wave a magic wand and distort the facts of the case in order to secure a victory before the court and the court of public opinion. At various times, they have claimed that Kennedy’s post-game prayers on the 50-yard line were "private," "silent" and "personal." 

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None of those descriptors is accurate. An appellate judge even called Kennedy’s attorneys’ version of events a "deceitful narrative."

Former Bremerton, Washington high school football coach Joe Kennedy.  (First Liberty Institute)

For years, Kennedy imposed his religion on football players by reciting team prayers not only on the field at the 50-yard line after games but, tellingly, also in the locker room. He bragged about his 50-yard line prayers on Fox News Radio in October 2015, saying that the "entire team" joined him. It was apparent at the time that he wanted to continue to involve