After losing his job for praying on the field, ex-high school football coach brings

Washington — It was after watching the sports film “Facing the Giants” that Joseph Kennedy, then a new coach for the Bremerton High School football team in Washington state, was inspired to pray.

And so, after coaching his first game for the Bremerton Knights in August 2008, Kennedy walked to the 50-yard-line, “on the battlefield,” the retired U.S. Marine says, and took a knee to offer a prayer of gratitude. 

It began with the coach, alone, briefly thanking God after the final whistle for keeping the players safe, for fair play and for spirited competition. But soon enough, the number of players gathering alongside Kennedy after games grew to include a majority of the team, though participation varied. At least one parent said his son felt “compelled to participate” out of fear he would lose out on playing time.

And soon enough, the prayers by Kennedy, himself a graduate of Bremerton High School, evolved into motivational speeches with religious references.

For seven years, Kennedy continued his practice of praying on the field with no issues. But in September 2015, the Bremerton School District learned what he was doing when an opposing team’s coach told Bremerton High School’s principal that Kennedy asked his players to join him for the post-game prayer, saying he “thought it was pretty cool” the district would allow such activity, according to court records.

That observation by the opposing coach served as the catalyst for a yearslong battle between Kennedy and the school district, the venue for which shifted from the gridiron to the courts when the coach lost his job after defying directives to end his practice of praying on the field.

Kennedy argued he was engaging in constitutionally protected religious expression, and on Monday, the United States Supreme Court will weigh his bid to get his coaching job back and be allowed to pray at midfield after games.

“It seems so simple to me: It’s a guy taking a knee by himself on the 50-yard-line, which to me doesn’t seem like it needs a rocket scientist or a Supreme Court justice to figure out,” he told CBS News. “I didn’t want to cause any waves, and the thing I wanted to do was coach football and thank God after the game.”

But for defenders of the school district, Kennedy was acting as an agent of the state who, as a public school employee, violated the religious freedom of students who felt pressure to pray-to-play.

“When a coach uses the power of his job to be in a place and have access to students at a time when they’re expected to encircle him and come to him, that’s an abuse of that power and a violation of the Constitution,” Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told CBS News’ Jan Crawford. “Religious freedom is not the right to impose your religion on others. We all need to have it, so that’s why the free exercise and establishment clause work together to protect religious freedom for all of us.”

“Giving up is not something that’s in my blood”

After the Bremerton School District learned of Kennedy’s post-game practice of praying at midfield in September 2015, it launched an investigation into whether he was complying with the school board’s policy on religious-related activities and practices. 

While acknowledging that Kennedy had “not actively encouraged, or required, participation” in either a pre-game prayer in the locker room or his “inspirational talk at midfield” after games,” the district said in a letter dated September 17, 2015, that the activities likely would violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and expose the district to “significant risk of liability.”

“Bremerton High School legally risks endorsing or favoring one set of religious views over others and that’s not what the Constitution promises,” Laser said. “Religious freedom, those 16 words of our First Amendment of our Constitution are a shield that protects religious freedom for all of us, not just religious freedom for some of us.”

The district told Kennedy that his talks with students must remain entirely secular, and future religious activity he engages in, including prayer, must not interfere with his job duties, must be separate from any student activity and may not have participation from the students. 

In compliance with the district’s request, Kennedy temporarily stopped praying on the field after games. But one month later, in mid-October 2015, he informed the district through an attorney that he would resume saying a post-game prayer at the 50-yard-line after requesting a religious accommodation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination…