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Coach fired for silently praying demands a hearing from full appeals court

If you’re Christian, stop it; if you’re Buddhist, carry on

Are you a public school employee in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Guam or the Northern Mariana Islands?

You don’t have the right to express your faith, even silently and passively, if students are around.

Former Bremerton High School football coach Joe Kennedy is asking the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear an appeal after a three-judge panel issued a stunningly broad ruling that licenses public schools to selectively revoke religious freedom of employees whose religions they dislike.

The panel ruled last month that Kennedy “spoke as a public employee” and “took advantage of his position to press his particular views upon the impressionable and captive minds before him.”

What horrible abuse did he commit that justified his firing? Kennedy silently kneeled and prayed without drawing attention to himself at the 50-yard line after games. Some of his players voluntarily joined him.

The opinion does not address a situation Kennedy mentioned in his original lawsuit against the school district: Bremerton High School continues to allow another coach to engage in a Buddhist chant at the same spot after games. (Indeed, Kennedy’s case also affects political expression, a touchier issue in football. He’s supported by an attorney who is defending two coaches from nearby Garfield High School who joined their players in a Black Lives Matter demonstration.)

MORE: School lets Buddhist coach pray on field after game, not Christian coach

First Liberty Institute, which is representing Kennedy, filed a petition today asking for an en banc rehearing of the appeal, in which the entire 9th Circuit – 11 judges – would rule on his motion for a preliminary injunction against the school.

“If the current decision stands, a teacher could be fired for wearing a yarmulke to school.  A coach could be fired for bowing his head in prayer when a player is hurt,” said Mike Berry, deputy general counsel for the religious liberty law firm.

The law firm notes Kennedy has received high-profile support for his case against the school district.

Read the 9th Circuit’s panel ruling and learn more about Kennedy’s case from First Liberty.

MORE: School district defends firing Christian coach for silent prayer in court

MOREAir Force team cleared to pray before, after games

MOREUniversity of Tennessee spurns atheist threat over football prayer

IMAGE: Paul Lively/Flickr

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About the Author
Associate Editor
Greg Piper served as associate editor of The College Fix from 2014 to 2021.