Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Football Coach Who Prayed With His Players after Games

Chris Queen : Jun 27, 2022
PJMedia.com

"...Both the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment protect expressions like Mr. Kennedy's..." -Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch

[PJMedia.com] The Supreme Court has ruled in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the case of Coach Joe Kennedy of Bremerton High School in Bremerton, Washington, whom the school district fired in 2015 because he prayed with players at the 50-yard-line following football games. (Screengrab image: First Liberty)

By a 6-3 margin, the court ruled in favor of Kennedy.

"The Court holds that both the free exercise and free speech clauses protect Kennedy's right to pray at midfield following high school football games," reported Amy Howe on the SCOTUSblog live feed of the Supreme Court decisions on Monday.

Justice Neil Gorsuch issued the majority opinion, in which he wrote:

Mr. Kennedy prayed during a period when school employees were free to speak with a friend, call for a reservation at a restaurant, check email, or attend to other personal matters. He offered his prayers quietly while his students were otherwise occupied. Still, the Bremerton School District disciplined him anyway. It did so because it thought anything less could lead a reasonable observer to conclude (mistakenly) that it endorsed Mr. Kennedy's religious beliefs. That reasoning was misguided. Both the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment protect expressions like Mr. Kennedy's. Nor does a proper understanding of the Amendment's Establishment Clause require the government to single out private religious speech for special disfavor. The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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