Football Coach Fired for Praying Gets His Job Back
Plus, the school agrees to pay a settlement of $1.8 million.

A football coach in Bremerton, Washington, Joseph Kennedy, will be given back his job and have $1.8 million in legal fees paid by the school district as the Supreme Court rules that itâs a violation of religious liberty to prohibit praying after games.
In 2015, Mr. Kennedy, an assistant football coach at Bremerton High School, engaged in prayer alone on the field. When students asked if they could join, he welcomed them, without mandating participation or retaliating against those who abstained.
âLord,â Mr. Kennedy says in his prayer. âI thank you for these kids and the blessing youâve given me with them. We believe in the game, we believe in competition, and we can come into it as rivals and leave as brothers.â This was once standard sportsmanship in an America that put âIn God We Trustâ on its currency.
The school district told Mr. Kennedy to cease and desist. When he refused, he was placed on administrative leave and then fired. With backing from the First Liberty Institute, he began the drive through the courts to defend his stance.
Mr. Kennedy also had strong community support protecting his blindside. At a 2016 game, as he defied the school board, players from his team and rival Centralia High School, a member of the Washington legislature, and what the Seattle Times described as âa huge crowdâ knelt on the 50-yard line with him in prayer.
âToleranceâ is a sacrament for the dominant political culture which, since it skews to the secular left, is often hostile to the religious while requiring them to not just tolerate things that run counter to their beliefs but to join in vocal celebration of them â a form of compelled speech.
The First Amendment respects the liberties of all citizens, beginning with the words, âCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereofâŠâ The Constitution also bans religious tests.
In a six to three decision, the Supreme Court ruled for Coach Kennedy. âBoth the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment,â Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority, âprotect expressions like Mr. Kennedyâs.â
The Establishment Clause, Justice Gorsuch said, doesnât ârequire 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.â
After agreeing to abide by the ruling, the school board president, Alyson Rotter, said they looked forward âto moving past the distractionâ to âfocus on what matters most: Providing our children the best education possible.â
One interpretation of the ruling is that Mr. Kennedy was fulfilling that higher academic calling by being a quiet role model, and then offering his players the opportunity to tend to their spiritual health as well as their mental and physical wellbeing.
On the nationâs other coast, the Democratic mayor of New York City has lamented that students have paid the price for sawing the religious leg off this three-pronged stool of education. âWhen we took prayers out of schools,â he said, âguns came into schools.â
This came closer to government violating the Establishment Clause, but Mr. Adams remained defiant. âDonât tell me about no âseparation of church and state,ââ he said, referring to President Jeffersonâs formulation in a private letter, language that appears nowhere in the Constitution.
âState is the body,â Mr. Adams said. âChurch is the heart. You take the heart out of the body, the body dies. I canât separate my belief because Iâm an elected official. When I walk, I walk with God. When I talk, I talk with God. When I put policies in place, I put them in with a Godlike approach to them. Thatâs who I am.â
Itâs who Mr. Kennedy is, too, and the 9 have affirmed that heâs free to be that man. âI always taught my kids to do whatâs right,â he said, âand fight for what you believe in.â Long after lectures on fractions and physics have faded, that lesson will linger â a living encounter with the Constitution that no dogeared textbook could hope to match.