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Football coach who prayed on field resigns, citing retaliation from school forced to take him back

Updated: September 8, 2023 at 4:58 pm EST  See Comments

Fri Sep 8, 2023 – 3:29 pm EDT

BREMERTON, Washington (LifeSiteNews) – A high school football coach who went to the U.S. Supreme Court to protect his right to pray on the field resigned from the job he fought to resume, citing “retaliation” from his school district.

Joseph Kennedy, a Bremerton High School assistant football coach, had prayed on the field without issue for seven years until 2015 when the coach of an opposing team told Bremerton’s principal that Kennedy had asked the coach’s players to join in a post-game prayer, prompting a district investigation into Kennedy’s compliance with the school board’s religious policy. 

After Bremerton School District told Kennedy his prayer may not have participation from students, he sent a letter from his attorney, First Liberty Institute executive general counsel Hiram Sasser, to the district informing them he would “resume his practice of saying a private, postgame prayer at the 50-yard line, since such speech would be protected by both the Free Speech Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the Constitution.

At subsequent games, Kennedy “waited until players were singing their fight song” after their games and knelt at the 50-yard line to pray

The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at LifeSite News

The views expressed in this news alert by the author do not directly represent that of The Christian Journal or its editors

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