The U.S. bishops’ conference (USCCB) has filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Christian high school football coach Joseph Kennedy, who was fired in 2015 for refusing to stop kneeling and praying on the field after games.
In its 26-page brief, filed on March 2, the USCCB underscores its interest in “the protection of the First Amendment rights of religious organizations and their adherents, and the proper development of this Court’s jurisprudence in that regard.”
“Coach Kennedy’s actions bear no resemblance to historical practices and understandings of religious establishment, and therefore did not violate the Establishment Clause,” the bishops argue.
In 2015, the superintendent of the Bremerton School District in Washington State, Aaron Leavell, warned Kennedy that he could give inspirational talks following games but “they must remain entirely secular in nature,” while forbidding the coach to continue praying in public. When Kennedy failed to comply, he was fired.
“Unless and until you are advised otherwise, you may not participate, in any capacity, in BHS [Bremerton High School] football program activities,” Superintendent Leavell wrote in a curt October 28 letter of suspension to Kennedy.
Kennedy eventually sued the Bremerton School District in 2016 in an effort to get his job back but lower courts sided with the school district.
In its 2017 summary, the Ninth Circuit Court ruled that Coach Kennedy “was engaging in public speech of an overtly religious nature while performing his job duties,” thus violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
On January 14, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, filed as Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, as Breitbart News reported.
In their brief, the bishops warn that if “voluntary religious speech may be treated as uniquely dangerous under the Establishment Clause, the result will be discrimination against religious viewpoints under the Free Speech Clause.”
“If Coach Kennedy were to kneel while the team poured Gatorade over his head, the school would deem that activity permissible, since it expresses happiness and celebration of a victory,” the brief declares. “But if he kneels to silently thank God, it is inappropriate precisely because of the ideas it conveys: that Kennedy believes in God and believes it is right to thank God after a game.”
“The constitution exists to protect public expressions of faith, not to stop Americans from praying in public,” said Lori Windham, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and counsel of record for the bishops’ brief. “The idea that high school football players can handle a tough game, but not the sight of someone kneeling in prayer at the end of the night is ridiculous.”
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