Coach Defies Ban, Prays after Football Game
No decision has been announced on the fate of a high school coach in Washington state who was warned by school officials to stop praying after football games, but did so anyway Friday night.
The Kitsap Sun reports that Bremerton High assistant coach Joe Kennedy knelt and prayed on the 50-yard line as his players left the field. He was joined by players from both teams as well as spectators.
Kennedy said afterward that the prayer was a version of the basic prayer he's said for years: "Lord, I thank you for these kids and the blessing you've given me with them. We believe in the game, we believe in competition, and we can come into it as rivals and leave as brothers."
It's unclear what the school district will do. No public statement has yet been issued.
Superintendent Aaron Leavell has said Kennedy's long-standing practice of praying after games runs counter to the belief in the "separation of church and state," a phrase that is not present in the U.S. Constitution.
Leavell said in a statement before the game that staff must refrain from religious expression while on duty.
Kennedy's attorneys, from the Texas-based Liberty Institute, say the district has no right to ban the coach from personally praying. They say he neither encouraged nor discouraged students from participating.
