The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a former Washington state high school football coach who lost his job after he routinely prayed at the 50-yard line after football games.
Joseph Kennedy said the Bremerton school district in Washington violated his religious freedom when they told him he was not allowed to pray after football games.Â
In the 6-3 ruling by the Supreme Court, it was mentioned that Kennedy was protected by the free speech and religious freedom clauses of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court further said separation of church and state does not prevent employees from praying aloud on the job near students.
The Supreme Court said because this coach had prayer both outside of the classroom and after the football games, he was not in any type of violation and he was not endorsing his religion on behalf of the school.
Local attorney Mark McDaniel believes this ruling, along with the recent gun ruling and the overturn of Roe v. Wade, shows the Supreme Court is setting a new precedent.
"To me, it’s pretty obvious how the Supreme Court is going to be coming down on cases like that in the future. If I had to predict the future, then I would say that the courts are going to say that people have a right under the First Amendment," said McDaniel. "Free speech is right under the First Amendment and the separation of church and state. If it’s a private thing that they are doing, if they are praying, then that’s not going to be something that the government would be able to interfere with."
Lower federal courts ruled Kennedy’s conduct should not be protected by the First Amendment since he routinely prayed in a public space, therefore acting as a public employee.
However, Kennedy said he never coerced any player, and any player who joined in prayer did so voluntarily.
The act of players and coaches praying together is something one North Alabama coach is used to.
Bob Godsey, varsity head football coach at Madison Academy, spoke about the matter with Ăĺ±±ÂÖĽé on Monday.
"My first thought, obviously, was geographical. Being here in the South, being in Alabama, I think things like that are viewed differently here in the Bible Belt as opposed to other places. So it was interesting," said Godsey.
Although Madison Academy is a private school, Godsey has coached at public schools for 30 years.
He said it was a tradition for him to pray in the locker room before and after games with his team, and in 30 years, he’s never received a complaint from anyone about it.
