(Headline USA) An assistant high school football coach in Washington state who was fired for over his public post-game prayers was back on the field Friday after the U.S. Supreme Court held that his practice was protected by the Constitution.
Joe Kennedy strode alone to midfield, knelt and prayed for about 10 seconds after his Bremerton High School football team beat visiting Mount Douglas Secondary School 27-12 Friday night.
Kennedy was not joined by any athletes or others on the nearly empty field. There was scattered applause from the modest crowd at Memorial Stadium.
Police and private security guards were on hand but there didn’t appear to be any problems or interruptions during or after the event.
Kennedy explained he felt nervous about returning to his job after an 8 year legal fight surrounding his religion.
“Knowing that everybody’s expecting me to go do this kind of gives me a lot of angst in my stomach,” Kennedy said before the game.
It was his first game as coach since 2015, when he was terminated for praying at midfield after games.
Kennedy’s fight to get his job back quickly became a cultural touchstone, pitting the religious liberties of government employees against longstanding principles protecting students from religious coercion.
The Supreme Court defended his right to pray in public as a public employee, with Justice Neil Gorsuch writing “the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike.”
The legal fight transformed Kennedy’s life in ways he never anticipated. He has a book coming out in October called “Average Joe,” with a number of release events planned. He appeared at a 2016 rally for Donald Trump, and he and his wife recently had dinner with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a GOP presidential hopeful who asked for his help on the campaign trail.
“He’s like, ‘I want you to be on my faith advisory board.’ And I’m like, ‘Let me get back to you on that,’” Kennedy recalled. “And he just invited me to Iowa and he calls me and he says, ‘Hey, I really need to know, are you in my camp or not?’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m sorry. My loyalty is to Trump.’”
Kennedy, 54, is grappling with whether football still fits into his life.
After spending so long trying to defend his religious liberty at his current job, Kennedy said he felt a duty to return to Washington state for the part-time job that paid him less than $5,000.
But he and his wife live in Florida now — he has been staying with a friend in Bremerton.
The Bremerton School District, after dragging its feet to rehire Kennedy, declined an interview request.
Before Friday’s game, it wasn’t clear if Kennedy’s return would draw protests.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which works to keep government and religion separate, placed a billboard message near the school that read: “Wishing Bremerton High School a safe, secular & successful school year.”
In 2015, a dozen members of the Satanic Temple of Seattle went to a varsity football game at Bremerton High School, many dressed in hooded black robes or masks. Students jeered them, held up crosses, threw liquid and chanted “Jesus.”
The Satanic Temple didn’t return messages from The Associated Press or mention Kennedy’s return on its Facebook page or website.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
