Joe Kennedy will be the first to tell you he knows little about the U.S. Constitution but he is quick to add, “I spent 20 years in the Marine Corps defending it.” Since 2008 Joe has quietly knelt after every Bremerton High football game on the field to offer his Lord and Savior thanks for His blessings. It is just for about 15 or 20 seconds but, after fighting in both in Iraq and Afghanistan, his religion is something very sacred.
As a matter of fact, for just about eight years he has led the team in a post-game locker room setting but this fall somebody alerted the Bremerton School District - located in Washington near Puget Sound - that the coach was violating the Constitution’s mandate on church versus state. Under pressure, Kennedy agreed to stop the locker room prayers, lest he offend somebody who was in the group, but took the view that his on-the-field prayer was personal – in no way connected to the team – and the Constitution protected his right to do so.
Over the years, Kennedy’s on-the-field prayer has become part of Bremerton’s personality. Players and coaches from both teams join him, as well as students, fathers and mothers, and anybody else who wants to show up. Everybody agrees it is strictly voluntary and joins in a hearty “Amen!” at the close.
Since September the issue has been getting increasingly hotter and this week it boiled over. Earlier this week, the coach was given a four-page letter from the school district, written in obvious lawyer-ese that he was immediately placed on paid administrative leave and it strongly forbade him to have any association whatsoever with the junior-varsity players he coached or any of the varsity, where he was an assistant.
The sizzling letter came the same day that members of Seattle’s Satanic Temple revealed they would send atheists wearing black robes and banging on a gong in their version of an invocation. The day before the Satanic Temple joined the fray, 47 members of the United States Congress sent Kennedy a letter praising him for standing up for his beliefs.
The congress members all believe, by signature, that prayers instigated by the coach “do not violate the constitutional separation of church and state.”
Signed by the co-chairs of the congressional prayer group, Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma and Rep. Randy Forbes of Virginia, the letter even pointed out, “The Supreme Court has reviewed and allowed the voluntary observance of a brief prayer at the beginning of a legislative session — a tradition that is also embraced by both the United States Senate and House of Representatives.”
That principle “does not prohibit the government from referencing religion altogether, nor does it require that government officials proactively scrub all references of religion from the public square.”
On Thursday night Bremerton honored its senior players during halftime of the game against Sequim and Joe Kennedy was wildly popular as he sat in the stands. The Satanic Temple folks showed up, one wearing goat horns, at the request of Abe Bartlett, the senior class president. Bartlett’s invitation – an attempt to cancel all religious worship or open it to everybody – drew praise from Coach Kennedy.
On his Facebook page, the former Marine wrote, “They are just people…Their beliefs are…Well, it’s their beliefs.”
In a text to the class president on the night before the game, Kennedy wrote: “Way to stand up! I agree that anyone of faith should be able to pray to whoever or whatever they believe in. That’s what the Constitution is for.
“I said I would meet (the Satanic Temple people) and I didn’t have a problem with them. Their beliefs are their beliefs and are protected by the Constitution. I hope you understand I am not making a Christian-only stance. It’s a Constitutional right's stance. Anyways it takes lots of guts to stand up for what you believe in. Very proud of your courage,” Kennedy’s message read.
After watching his boys suffer a tough loss at home, Kennedy walked onto the field to kneel.
Suddenly he felt bodies pressing up against him so part of his silent heavenly plea was “Please don’t let this be any Bremerton kids.” No, but it was the whole team from the other side of the field that had just won the game.
The four-page letter strictly prohibited Kennedy not to pray on the field Thursday night but the coach told reporters, “They haven’t threatened me with anything as far as I know,” but he has been contacted and will be legally represented by the Liberty Institute.
Hiram Sasser, a spokesman for the religious-freedom group based in Texas, takes the position Kennedy has done no wrong. “As long as the kids understand that he is (praying) in an individual and private capacity, which is what he is doing. It is perfectly constitutional and, not only that, it is a violation of the Constitution to tell him he’s not allowed to pray.”
A lawyer for the Bremerton School District wants to “open some dialog” with Coach Kennedy but at halftime of Thursday’s game the former Marine said he is willing to stand up for “as long as it goes. I hope this will teach our young people that if you believe in something, be willing to stand up for it.”
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