A football coach who got job back after Supreme Court ruled he could pray on the field has resigned

MicroWave@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 172 points – A football coach who got job back after Supreme Court ruled he could pray on the field has resigned
apnews.com

A high school football coach in Washington state who won his job back after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled he could pray on the field resigned Wednesday after just one game back.

Assistant Bremerton High School coach Joe Kennedy made the announcement on his website, citing several reasons, including that he needed to care for an ailing family member out of state. He had been living full-time in Florida, and before the first game last Friday he said he didn’t know if he’d continue coaching.

“I believe I can best continue to advocate for constitutional freedom and religious liberty by working from outside the school system so that is what I will do,” Kennedy wrote. “I will continue to work to help people understand and embrace the historic ruling at the heart of our case.”

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“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others.”

they really don’t like it when you hit ‘em with the Matthew 6:5

This is not a prohibition for public prayer, despite~~ reddit's~~lemmy's inclination to always quote this whenever public prayer is mentioned

This dude is obviously showboating as the scripture describes. There’s no reason to go out on the middle of the field and kneel other than “look at me!”

It also doesn’t help that he peer pressured his students into doing the same.

It may not be a prohibition against public prayer (though Jesus goes on to say that when you pray you should do so in an inner room of your own home), but it is absolutely an admonition about exactly the behavior of this coach, who would go kneel in the middle of the field and pray for show.

It's not a sin. It won't land you in hell. But I would say it's a prohibition, if you take into account that it's said by literally god.

I'm not steeped in theology but I thought acting against one of God's prohibitions is what a sin is. What distinguishes the two?

What distinguishes the two? Likely whatever’s most convenient in the moment, I’m guessing

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It was never about his job. It was always about putting Christianity back on a pedestal and the rest of us back in the shadows.

Fuck him.

Openly pray to Satan in school, since it's perfectly legal

No sir I am allowed to slaughter that goat in the middle of the classroom. It's my noon-prayer ritual

I believe I can best continue to advocate for constitutional freedom and religious liberty by working from outside the school system so that is what I will do

Damnit, he's going to run for Congress.

Fucking exactly... These chucklefucks are like influencers for right wing media obsessed morons.

God I hate this timeline.

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

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"can best continue to advocate for constitutional freedom and religious liberty by" ostracizing other religious beliefs and making those students feel uncomfortable

This is the part that gets skipped.

It wasn't him just going out and saying a little, quiet prayer to himself. I wouldn't give a shit about that, I don't think anybody would. You do you.

He was bringing a ton of students into the fold. The whole team was praying with him.

He claimed that it wasn't required or expected but come on. You know damn well if you were a player on the team and you're the only guy not praying, you're gonna have a bad time.

Something tells me that you would also have found yourself quickly dropped from the team.

Love how SCOTUS misrepresented facts in this case. Thanks Cardinal Alito and Cult Lady Barrett.

Just Like the lady who recently claimed an LGBTQ couple wanted her business to serve them against her religious beliefs and then we all found out there was no such real customers? She had made up the situation to go to the courts and they still sided with her!!?

Wasn't this one where they just outright invented 'facts' wholesale?

He just decided that "victimhood" pays better than coaching that's all. It's just Economics.

He's always was just another Republican snowflake looking for attention, by doing what the Bible says not to fucking do btw, and money.

Fuck this fake ass Republican bigot, racist, and honestly shitty fake ass Christian.

In other words "news" outlets are paying him more to be on TV as a mouthpiece. C'mon now buddy, almost everyone knows the hustle now.

Wonder what happens if a coach bows and prays to Satan on the field, will his rights be respected too?

Pretty sure it was a political stunt from the start.

This is a very misleading article and leaves out the (key) first part of his statement:

"[I]t is apparent that the reinstatement ordered by the Supreme Court will not be fully followed after a series of actions meant to diminish my role and single me out in what I can only believe is retaliation by the school district," Kennedy wrote.

They're welcome to try to sue for defamation if he's lying, but I suspect he'll end up winning a pretty penny in a lawsuit of his own.

You can compare what actually happened with what he said. From another article with more info on that:

A divided Supreme Court ultimately ruled that Kennedy had a right to pray under free speech and exercise clauses as long as he wasn’t coercing others to join him.

After the ruling, the district wrote a policy that allows coaches to pray while not actively supervising players if the coaches keep their distance from students when the prayers begin. After that, students can join if they choose.

“I can’t tell them to or not to,” Kennedy acknowledged last week. “If they want to join, cool. If they don’t, cool.”

No students did so at Friday’s game against the Mount Douglas Rams, from Victoria, B.C. A larger-than-normal crowd suggested Kennedy’s supporters showed up, but none stormed the field to join him in prayer, as happened at a 2015 homecoming game. A scattering of applause accompanied the coach’s kneeling at the 50-yard line.

Kennedy quit his full-time job at the Bremerton shipyard before moving to Florida. With his newfound celebrity, he has a promotional website, a book coming out in October and a movie about his life in the works. He speaks to political and religious groups, and says politicians including Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, have courted him for his endorsement.

Source: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/praying-bremerton-football-coach-joe-kennedy-quits-after-one-game/

Sure, there's probably a lot of context missing from the posted article. However my main issue is if you're going to report his statement then it's a bit underhanded to cut out the main first part of it.

a series of actions meant to diminish my role and single me out in what I can only believe is retaliation by the school district

Do we know what actions these are? Otherwise this quote is meaningless.

He is free to do as he wants, just like everyone else. If he wants to pray, he can pray.

What he is not free to do is require (or pressure) players on his team to take part in the prayer, or make it seem as though it is an officially endorsed action by the public school system. But he absolutely has the freedom to pray whenever he wants for whatever he wants.

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It wasn’t like that, he was forcing players to pray, they didn't have to option to object or they would be kicked off the team.

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