FAITH UNDER FIRE! Washington State high school football coach Joe Kennedy has been put on paid administrative leave after being criticized for praying at games. Joe’s lawyers are now threatening legal action. Do you support his lawsuit?
Posted by Fox & Friends on Thursday, October 29, 2015
(Video Above: Fox News covers the punishing of coach Joe Kennedy for praying after football games)
“Woodlawn” director and Alabama native Andrew Erwin voiced his support for an assistant high school football coach in Washington state who was placed on administrative leave for refusing to stop holding voluntary prayers with players and students on the field after games.
Bremerton High School assistant football coach Joe Kennedy was told by the school system to stop the prayers. Kennedy, who has prayed on the field after every game since taking the job in 2008, was assured by freedom of religion organization the Liberty Institute, that he was within his rights to pray, as long as he wasn’t forcing anyone else to join him.
“While the district appreciates Kennedy’s many positive contributions to the BHS football program … Kennedy’s conduct poses a genuine risk that the district will be liable for violating the federal and state constitutional rights of students or others,” Bremerton school officials wrote in a letter published online.
Kennedy, a former Marine, has received a tidal wave of support from every corner of the nation, including from “Woodlawn” director and Alabamian Andrew Erwin, who voiced his support for the coach on Facebook.
“Woodlawn’s” plot revolves around the recruitment of Tony Nathan, one of the first African-American University of Alabama. The entire story shows how a spiritual revival that starts within the team — despite the turbulent times around them — spreads throughout the school and into the community.
Kennedy was first ordered to stop the prayers in September when the school said 8-year-long tradition could be perceived as district endorsement of religion in violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
The coach continued to pray in defiance of the school system, bowing his head again at the 50 yard line after the homecoming game October 16.
“I’ve got my eyes closed and I feel all these people around me. I’m like, God, I hope those aren’t kids,” Kennedy told Seattle-based reporters “I’m sitting there and I’m going, ‘God, thank you for this opportunity.’ And … if this is the last time I step on the field with these guys…”
Liberty Institute lawyer Hiram Sasser, who is representing Coach Kennedy, wrote that though the First Amenment forbids religious activity sponsored by the government, it “protects religious activity that is initiated by individuals acting privately, as is the case with Coach Kennedy.”
“No reasonable observer could conclude that a football coach who waits until the game is over and the players have left the field and then walks to midfield to say a short, private, personal prayer is speaking on behalf of the state,” Sasser continued.
In an interview earlier this month with the Bremerton Patriot newspaper Kennedy said he wouldn’t stop fighting for his right to pray.
“Whatever happens happens, you know,” he said. “But I’m going to be bold in my faith and I’m going to fight the good fight, and I want to set that example for every one of the kids if you believe in something.”
Like this article? Hate it? Follow me and let me know how you feel on Twitter!
— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.