CAN a hs coach in a public school lead his players in an optional post-game prayer?

The issue of religion and a HS football coach’s beliefs was argued in front of the US Supreme Court this past week.

And while the high court won’t hand down its decision for a couple of months, the issue in the case is clearly worth discussing.

In short, here’s what took place. And you’ll hear, this has become a case of “pray to play.”

In Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, Joe Kennedy, a former public high school football coach in Bremerton, WA State, claims that his First Amendment rights were violated because the public school that employed him ordered him to stop publicly kneeling and praying at the 50-yard line immediately after games surrounded by students in front of a filled stadium.

In the first couple of years, Coach Kennedy didn’t pray out loud. Just a few moments of quiet prayer after the game. He did his post-game prayer sessions for a number of years, and he prayed in silence.  No words were said out loud. Nor did ever mandate that the players had to join him.

And at first, only a few of the kids on the Bremerton team would join him, But after awhile, more and more of the players would follow him out to the middle of the field, and take a knee and pray with Coach Kennedy.

But gradually, these post-game moments often turned into Coach Kennedy leading Christian prayers to the youngsters on his team. It became more and more of a bigger deal, and soon, not only were his players praying with him, but so were players from the opposing team, numerous parents, and so on.

Now the school district in Bremerton– again this is a public school -- wasn’t blind to what was happening – they repeatedly offered Kennedy alternatives — like praying in the press box or praying midfield after the stadium had fully emptied. But the coach refused them all.

He felt that no one was compelled to follow him for the post-game prayer – that is, it was certainly not mandated – and besides, he was just practicing his own freedom of speech.

 But there were concerns. Parents in the Bremerton school district were alarmed by this practice. After all, in public schools, there are real lines drawn between religious beliefs and what teachers and coaches can engage in. And eventually, when Coach Kennedy’s coaching contract was up for renewal,  he decided not to come back.

Now, from a legal perspective on the issue of religion and public schools, the Supreme Court has long ruled that school-led or school-sponsored prayers in a public school is against the law.  Along those lines, it has barred public school teachers from leading students in a short prayer at the beginning of the school day --  even if participation was optional.

The Court has barred public schools from inviting clergy to give religious invocations and benedictions at graduation ceremonies. The Supreme Court has even concluded that a school’s organizing of students to lead prayers at football games can also cross the constitutional line.   

In other words, there’s quite a lot of legal precedent here on this issue. But the Supreme Court will hand down a decision on this curious case in a few months. The calls from the Sports Edge listeners on this podcast were superb, Listen to the podcast here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff