Bremerton High School administrators in Washington State ordered football coach Joe Kennedy to stop speaking a personal prayer at the 50-yard line after every game.
While Bremerton High School claims it is attempting to avoid any liability that could result from violating the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, the school is misapplying the law, and actually stripping Coach Kennedy’s right to personally pray after games - a right protected by the First Amendment and extensive case law precedent.
Read the in-depth story from Liberty Institute here.
https://www.libertyinstitute.org/coachkennedy
Coach Kennedy engages in private religious expression during non-instructional hours, after the football game has ended. He neither requests, encourages, nor discourages students from participating in his personal prayers, or coming to where he prays. His prayers neither proselytize nor denigrate the beliefs of others. And he has never received a complaint about his post-game personal prayers.
According to his attorney at Liberty Institute, there is no constitutional prohibition against Coach Kennedy's private religious expression, regardless of whether students voluntarily come to the location where he is praying.
At last Friday night's game, Coach Kennedy did as he has done for the past seven years. He went to the 50-yard line and prayed.
https://www.libertyinstitute.org/coachkennedy
While Bremerton High School claims it is attempting to avoid any liability that could result from violating the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, the school is misapplying the law, and actually stripping Coach Kennedy’s right to personally pray after games - a right protected by the First Amendment and extensive case law precedent.
Read the in-depth story from Liberty Institute here.
https://www.libertyinstitute.org/coachkennedy
Coach Kennedy engages in private religious expression during non-instructional hours, after the football game has ended. He neither requests, encourages, nor discourages students from participating in his personal prayers, or coming to where he prays. His prayers neither proselytize nor denigrate the beliefs of others. And he has never received a complaint about his post-game personal prayers.
According to his attorney at Liberty Institute, there is no constitutional prohibition against Coach Kennedy's private religious expression, regardless of whether students voluntarily come to the location where he is praying.
At last Friday night's game, Coach Kennedy did as he has done for the past seven years. He went to the 50-yard line and prayed.
https://www.libertyinstitute.org/coachkennedy