The Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of a high school football coach from Washington state who sought to kneel and pray on the field after games should come as a relief for Nebraska teachers of faith, an advocate of Catholic schools said Monday.
Restricting people to pray only in private quarters or a church “places people of faith in the box, discriminates against them and is antithetical for a country founded on religious values,†said Jeremy Ekeler, associate director of education policy for the Nebraska Catholic Conference.
However, Rose Godinez, legal and policy counsel of the ACLU of Nebraska, called the decision a “drastic departure from precedent†and “a blow to the principle that students have the religious liberty to be free from school-sponsored prayer.â€
The court ruled 6-3 for the coach with the court’s conservative justices in the majority and its liberals in dissent. The majority said the coach’s prayer was protected by the First Amendment.
People are also reading…
“The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike,†Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote.
The decision could strengthen the acceptability of some religious practices in other public school settings.
The case forced the justices to wrestle with how to balance the religious and free speech rights of teachers and coaches with the rights of students not to feel pressured into participating in religious practices.
The national ACLU and the ACLU of Washington state filed an amicus brief in the case, arguing that coach Joe Kennedy’s prayers were not protected by the Free Speech Clause and that the Bremerton School District had a constitutional duty to stop him.
The national ACLU said the decision “significantly erodes the separation of church and state in public schools.â€
Ekeler said the idea of separation of church and state “is bandied about as if it’s in the Constitution.
“Truth be told,†he said, “any references to this separation by our founders was made to protect people of faith from the government, not the other way around.â€
Godinez said it’s inherently coercive for school officials to lead students in prayer while they’re on duty.
The prayers were often taking place on the field while wearing the school uniform, and many students voiced that they felt compelled to participate in prayers or they would lose playing time, she said.
“At the ACLU, at least in my time here in the last five years, we’ve received several intakes about prayer occurring either in games or in classrooms, and we’ve had to address those,†she said. “So it’s definitely an issue across the state.â€
The court said First Amendment protections extend to teachers and students, and that it was clear that Kennedy’s speech was private speech, not government speech.
He did not speak pursuant to government policy, the court said. He was not seeking to convey a government-created message. Nor was he instructing players, discussing strategy, encouraging better on-field performance, or engaged in any other speech the district paid him to produce as a coach, the court said.
In a dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the coach decision “sets us further down a perilous path in forcing states to entangle themselves with religion.†She was joined in her dissent by Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan.
Paul Clement, the attorney who argued the case on behalf of the coach, said in a statement that the decision would allow the coach “to finally return to the place he belongs — coaching football and quietly praying by himself after the game.â€
Kennedy said in a statement: “This is just so awesome. All I’ve ever wanted was to be back on the field with my guys. I thank God for answering our prayers and sustaining my family through this long battle.â€
Kennedy, a Christian, is a former football coach at Bremerton High School in Bremerton, Washington. He started coaching at the school in 2008 and initially prayed alone on the 50-yard line at the end of games. Students started joining him, and over time he began to deliver a short, inspirational talk with religious references. Kennedy did that for years and also led students in locker room prayers. The school district learned what he was doing in 2015 and asked him to stop.
Kennedy stopped leading students in prayer in the locker room and on the field but wanted to continue praying on the field himself, with students free to join if they wished. Concerned about being sued for violating students’ religious freedom rights, the school asked him to stop his practice of kneeling and praying while still “on duty†as a coach after the game. When he continued to kneel and pray on the field, the school put him on paid leave.
In a statement, the Bremerton school district and their attorneys at Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, said the decision undermines that separation required by the Constitution. The school district said that it had “followed the law and acted to protect the religious freedom of all students and their families†and that it would work with its attorneys to make sure the district “remains a welcoming, inclusive environment for all students, their families and our staff.â€
This report includes material from the Associated Press.