School Might Fire Football Coach for Praying

School Might Fire Football Coach for Praying

A football coach in Washington is taking a bold move by continuing to defyi his school’s prayer ban.

Joe Kennedy, who is a coach at Bremerton High School, made the national news in September after the school district launched a formal investigation into his prayer routine which happened after the games.

Now, the school says they may fire Kennedy.

Fox News obtained a letter sent to the coach from the school.

Superintendent Aaron Leavell wrote, “Any further violations will be grounds for discipline, up to and including discharge from District employment.”

The coach said he’s “shocked.”

Fox reported:

For years the former Marine combat veteran would walk alone to the 50-yard line and offer a prayer of thanksgiving and blessing after football games. He drew inspiration for his post-game prayers from “Facing the Giants”, a popular faith-based film. Over the years, players and coaches from both teams would join him — on their own volition.

On Sept. 27th Leavell fired off a letter to the coach warning him to cease and desist.

“Your talks with students may not include religious expression, including prayer,” he wrote. “They must remain entirely secular in nature, so as to avoid alienation of any team member.”

In his most recent letter, Leveall said the school district would be glad to provide a place for Coach Joe to pray — so long as it was in private — “not observable to students or the public.”

The Liberty Institute, the nation’s largest law firm specializing in religious liberty cases, is preparing to initiate legal proceedings against the school district — accusing them of religious discrimination.

“They’ve already punished Coach Joe by denying his request for religious accommodation,” attorney Hiram Sasser told me. “Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, they’ve already violated his civil rights.”

Kennedy said, “I’m being investigated for thanking God for the opportunities that have been given me. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”

He continued, “I spent 20 years in the military defending the Constitution and the freedoms that everybody has. All of a sudden, I realized that people who work for the public schools don’t have the same constitutional rights that everyone else has.”

For now, the coach insists that he’s going to “keep on praying.”

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