The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Source: Todd Starnes Show
Posted: Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:25 PM
U.S. Court Of Appeals Refuses To Hear Case Of Washington State High School Coach Punished For Taking Knee At 50-Yard Line For Post-Game Prayer
In August a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled the Bremerton School District was justified in suspending Coach Joe Kennedy after he took a knee and prayed silently at midfield after football games.
“When Kennedy kneeled and prayed on the fifty-yard line immediately
after games while in view of students and parents, he spoke as a public
employee, not as a private citizen, and his speech therefore was
constitutionally unprotected,” the 9th Circuit wrote.
First Liberty Institute attorney Mike Berry broke the news of the
court’s decision Thursday on the Todd Starnes Radio Show.
“Coach Kennedy was forced to choose to between his faith and his job,”
Berry said. “The Ninth Circuit Court told Coach Kennedy he did not have
a prayer.”
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If this decision is allowed to stand, “Jewish teachers can be fired for
wearing a yarmulke in sight of students, Catholic teachers are at risk
if they wear a crucifix,” Berry said.
First Liberty Institute warned that the court’s ruling will have a
ripple effect across the country.
“Banning all coaches from praying just because they can be seen is wrong
and contradicts the Constitution,” First Liberty Institute president
Kelly Shackelford said.
Kennedy, who served as an assistant coach at Bremerton High School from
2008-2015, was ordered to refrain from bowing his head, taking a knee or
doing anything that could be perceived as praying on public school
property.
To be fair – it’s not like Coach Kennedy was conducting a Billy Graham
Crusade at midfield. He would simply take a knee, bow his head, thank
God for a good game and 30 seconds later – he went about his business.
“An objective student observer would see an influential supervisor do
something no ordinary citizen could do – perform a Christian religious
act on secured school property while surrounded by players – simply
because he is a coach,” the judges wrote.
The evangelical Christian was suspended in 2015 when he defied school
officials and continued his post-game religious ritual.
Kennedy, a Marine veteran who served in Operation Desert Storm and
Operation Desert Shield, was not rehired when his contract expired.
Berry said they plan to appeal Kennedy’s case to the Supreme Court.
Welcome to the America that was fundamentally transformed by President
Obama and his activist judges.
It’s a nation where football players can take a knee to disrespect the
flag, but a coach can’t take a knee to pray to the Almighty.
