Curley: Bremerton coach is in a losing battle over post-game prayer

He was told not to. He’s been advised of his rights. And he ignored it all. Last night Bremerton’s Coach Joe Kennedy walked out to the 50 yard line after a football game, knelt down, and prayed.

That 50 yard line has now become a line between church and state. The coach is straddling it in his position as a public employee, and a religious man in his personal life. And it is a line that his employer, the Bremerton School District, has asked him not to cross.

The Bremerton football coach was instructed by his school district that his post-game prayers were violating the constitution’s aim to separate church and state and was told to refrain from doing so. After Friday night’s game, he ignored that order and prayed anyway, surrounded by football players and other supporters from Kitsap County, the Seattle Times reports.

Related: Bremerton football coach can stay, but prayers gotta go

His prayer is simple and short:

“Lord, I thank you for these kids and the blessing you’ve given me with them. We believe in the game, we believe in competition and we can come into it as rivals and leave as brothers.”

Kennedy insists that it is his right to practice his faith, and it is his personal time after a game is over. he argues that the students join him on their own, uninvited. The school district, however, argues the opposite and does not allow school employees to engage in religious activities with students while working in an official capacity.

The Bremerton coach initially refrained from praying after football games when the school district instructed him not to in September. Now that he is being represented by the Liberty Institute, he has changed his mind.

The coach’s position has been refuted. First by lawyers with the school district, who wrote the Liberty Institute, stating that the coach’s religious liberties were not being threatened, but that the prayers did violate the constitution.

KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson has also disagreed with the coach’s actions.

The coach also sought legal support from an organization before settling on the Liberty Institute. That organization, the American Center for Law and Justice, turned down his case.

It could be that the coach is waging a losing battle, according KIRO Radio’s John Curley.

Curley spoke with attorney Jay Sekulow about the issue. Sekulow is chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice. His organization was contacted by Bremerton coach Kennedy shortly after he was asked to stop praying after football games.

Sekulow said his organization refused to represent Coach Kennedy, Curley reported.

“They said, ‘We’re not going to take it,'” Curley added.

The main problem Kennedy faces is that while he considers the time after a game &#8212 when he ceases to coach his players &#8212 as his own personal time, the players still see him as their coach, Curley explains. If the players were initiating the prayer, it might not be such an issue.

“Even though the game is over … he’s still a public employee and cannot pray,” he said.

That’s why Kennedy’s argument won’t stand up, Curley said.