DAVE ROSS

Coach should consider private prayers so he can spend time with God, not lawyers

Oct 19, 2015, 4:57 PM | Updated: Oct 20, 2015, 5:13 am

Bremerton Assistant Football Coach Joe Kennedy continues to pray after football games, along with h...

Bremerton Assistant Football Coach Joe Kennedy continues to pray after football games, along with his players, despite the district ordering him not to because it violates the constitution. (Bremerton Patriot)

(Bremerton Patriot)

In Bremerton, Joe Kennedy &#8212 the Assistant Football Coach who was warned he’d be fired unless he stopped his practice of kneeling in prayer at the 50 yard line after games &#8212 decided to do it anyway last Friday.

“Whatever happens … happens,” Kennedy said. “I’m going to be bold in my faith and fight the good fight.”

The school district will hold off firing him for now, even though it insists his prayers violate Supreme Court rulings.

But what baffles me is why the Supreme Court is involved at all. Because there’s already a clear ruling on public prayer. It’s in a document called “The New Testament of the Bible.”

According to Chapter 6 of the Gospel of Matthew: “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is unseen. Then your father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

Now obviously, the coach’s prayer is hardly going to scar the children &#8212 at least not until the Temple of Satan, and the Festivus followers demand equal time on the 50 yard line, which they will if this stays in the news.

But I do think the Bible’s onto something here when it says you can live your faith openly, but when it’s time to pray, “Go into your room, close the door …”

Private prayers work just as well &#8212 but since no one can see you and therefore can’t complain, you can spend your time talking to God instead of lawyers.

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Coach should consider private prayers so he can spend time with God, not lawyers