One coach prayed to God. Another coach chanted to the Buddha. However, only one person was punished. I’m a Christian coach.
Joe Kennedy, beloved assistant football coach in Bremerton, Washington, was suspended on October 28 after refusing to stop post-game prayers on the 50-yard line.
On Tuesday, he filed a discrimination complaint against the school district, claiming he had not punished the team’s offensive coordinator for conducting Buddhist chants in a similar way.
So, if a Buddhist coach can chant near the 50-yard line, why can’t a Christian coach pray on the 50-yard line?
Liberty Institute, one of the nation’s most prominent religious liberty law firms, plans to get answers to the question in a complaint filed with the U.S. Employment Opportunity Committee. The Liberty Institute represents Coach Kennedy in his discrimination complaints.
“The BSD violated my right to freely exercise my religion and freedom of speech by prohibiting my personal religious expression and taking employment behavior that is unfavourable to me based on my religion.
The district has not commented on the complaints.
“I definitely don’t want to fall into this predicament,” Coach Kennedy told me. “I just want to coach soccer with my peers.”
Kennedy was hired by the district in 2008 and received many years of great reviews and praise for his character building with the team.
In 2009, he was praised for his “environment and positive attitude.” In 2013 he was known for his “excellent job of mentoring players and building characters.”
However, this year’s reviews have proven ominous.
“Please don’t rehire them,” the review says.
“Kennedy was unable to follow district policies and his actions showed a lack of cooperation with the administration,” the review argued. “The circumstances that followed have contributed to negative relationships between parents, students, community members, coaches and school districts.”
The review even argued that Coach Kennedy was unable to oversee students after a football match “due to interaction with the media and the community.”
That review devastated former Marines.
“It was like a knife in the heart,” he said. “They don’t want me to coach them anymore.”
Michael Berry is a Liberty Institute lawyer assigned to the case. He told me that assessment was an act of retaliation by the school.
“We provided a copy of the previous review that was all glowing,” Berry said. “They talk about him being a great coach. It’s like getting a straight A and getting an F. Obviously, there’s something more to this.”
The Liberty Institute said the school is a crime of three separate acts of discrimination. Initially he said it was a policy that would ban Coach Kennedy from his post-game prayer. They also had issues with coach suspensions and negative performance reviews.
Coach Kennedy began his post-game prayer when he was hired in 2008. Kennedy was urged to do so after watching the faith-based film “Face the Giants.”
The student noticed the coach’s actions and soon began to join him. It was completely spontaneous and the coaches never invited players personally. It was a truly organic prayer movement.
They went to the point where not only did the coaches ban prayers, but they also banned them from participating in student-led prayers. They also ordered him to avoid kneeling or bowing his head during student-led religious activities.
I asked the coach why he decided to defy the school district. Why did he comply with their requests and not stop praying after the game? His answer should inspire and burn all the patriots in the country.
“It mainly relates to me as a Marine and a veteran. I’m fighting for the constitutional rights of all Americans,” he said. “I still believe in America as a free and brave home. I haven’t seen it recently. We’re always coming back because someone could offend us. But that’s not the American way.
Director Joe Kennedy is giving all of us character building lessons, regardless of the outcome.
