Across the ideological spectrum, there were predictions of dramatic consequences when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a public high school football coach’s right to pray on the field after games. FOX13
at the end of games. Students started joining him, and over time he began delivering short, inspirational talks with religious references. Kennedy did that for years and also led students in locker room prayers. When the school district learned what he was doing in 2015, it asked him to stop out of concerns of a possible lawsuit over students’ religious freedom rights.
"The biggest mistake that happened out of the Kennedy decision was that the Supreme Court justices focused so much on the coach’s rights … and they just completely disregarded the view of students," said Line, of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Rachel Laser is president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which represented the Bremerton school board in the case. She lamented that the Supreme Court "adopted the deceitful narrative that Kennedy was praying quietly and to himself." She also worried that it will encourage other coaches and teachers "who view public schools as a mission field."
Some public school coaches in Alabama, Oklahoma and Tennessee acknowledged feeling vindicated by the ruling and said they would continue to pray with students, but declined to be identified publicly because they didn’t want to draw attention to their teams.Steve Sell, longtime athletic director and football coach at Aragon High School in San Mateo, California, said athletes competing for playing time could feel pressured to pray to please their coach.
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