Bremerton High School football coach Joe Kennedy has been honored by the Family Policy Institute of Washington state with its Rosa Parks Courage Award for his principled stand in refusing to discontinue praying at the 50-yard line after football games.
Mike Berry, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, which has defended Kennedy, said it's "so appropriate that the namesake for this award is Rosa Parks, somebody who exhibited tremendous courage in the face of opposition."
"Like Rosa Parks, Kennedy has shown great courage and determination despite fierce government opposition. He has continued to stand strong for his faith and constitutional freedom," Berry said.
Kennedy was suspended from his coaching job at Bremerton High School in Washington state last October and banned from the football field the last game of the season.
Then the school refused to renew Kennedy's contract because of his personal prayers, prompting an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigation. First Liberty is awaiting a determination letter from the EEOC before it can take the next legal step.
WND reported in December Bremerton Superintendent Aaron Leavell put Kennedy on paid administrative leave for praying on the field after games.
In a statement at the time, Kennedy charged school officials "violated my rights to free exercise of religion and free speech by prohibiting my private religious expression."
"All we are asking is for Coach Kennedy to be allowed to pray alone – silently and briefly – at the 50-yard line after the game," Berry said then.
Kennedy noted that his personal practice was noticed by several players, who voluntarily joined him.
The punishment was delivered even though there was prayer at the opening of the nation's Constitutional Convention and church services inside the halls of Congress. U.S. currency refers to God, and 'In God we trust" has been the official motto of the nation for decades. Francis Scott Key cited the nation's trust in God in the national anthem in 1814. And twice the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled to keep "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.
At the time, Jeremy Dys, a lawyer with Liberty, told WND the underlying precedent that the school is trying to impose is that government is a god and nothing is higher, he said.
That means a Christian cannot do anything that would demonstrate religious belief.
By the district's standard, he said, if a coach were praying in a private room and he were approached by a student, he would have to "run away screaming, 'Get away! Get away!'
"That's not freedom of religion."
Further, he said, that standard would forbid other symbols of faith.
"Jews cannot wear yarmulkes, Muslims cannot wear hijabs, Catholic cannot wear a rosary. … If a religious individual walks down a hallway and a student sneezes, that teacher cannot say, 'God bless you,'" he said.
"That's why this is such an important case," he said.
The school had told Kennedy last September he wasn't even allowed to bow his head.
But Kennedy, citing his constitutionally protected religious liberty, refused to stop.
Â