It’s a great moment in America when the Bill of Rights, religious freedom, and government hostility prevail over censorship and suppression. It’s great news for Joe Kennedy, a Bremerton, Wash. high school football coach who was fired for praying on the field following games.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Kennedy’s seven-year legal struggle by deciding that Bremerton High School had violated Kennedy’s right to pray on its football fields when it fired him in 2015. This week, a joint stipulation in court revealed that the school must restore the coach to his former position with backpay on or prior to March 15, 2023.
Kennedy was fired from the school for his post-game prayers at 50 yards. Alexandro Avila, a blogger at Outkick, wrote that Kennedy was fired by the school because he was fighting for traditional Christian values in the face of the nation’s continuing rejection of religious principles.
This protection is the nation’s first freedom, the religious liberty promised by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Bremerton High School violated Kennedy’s amendment, but this wrong has been rectified. He filed a lawsuit against Bremerton high school, but a district court ruled against him and the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit ruled against him. He was finally granted justice by the U.S Supreme Court with a favorable decision of 6-3.
The Supreme Court’s opinion on Kennedy’s case was released this week in court documents. This means that Kennedy is entitled to “declaratory Relief consistent with the Supreme Court opinion in this matter” and that the Bremerton School District shall not interfere or prohibit Kennedy from offering a prayer consistent the Supreme Court opinion.
Rob McKenna, a former Washington attorney general, complained that Coach Kennedy encouraged football players to pray after each game.
Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the Constitution and the best traditions counsel mutual respect, tolerance, and not censorship or suppression for religious and nonreligious views.
“Kennedy prayed when school employees had the freedom to talk with friends, make a reservation at restaurants, check email, and attend to other personal matters. While his students were busy, he offered his prayers silently. The Bremerton School District disciplined the student.
The recent stipulation that he will be reinstated with backpay is a huge victory for religious freedom in America, just like Kennedy’s June victory at SCOTUS.
