Last month at Bremerton High school former marine, Joe Kennedy who is now an assistant Football Coach was asked to stop his “50-yard line” post game praying ritual. This ritual has never before been an issue, as he does it without bothering anyone or forcing anyone into joining prayer with him. It was not until a single parent complained that the school district noticed this and decided that even though his actions were “entirely well-intentioned” they had to take action against it. The grounds used for the complaint against Kennedy was that Bremerton is a public high school, therefore separation of church and state must be applied. With only one parent and the school district against his actions, Joe decided he was not going to back off of his “50-yard line” post game ritual, after all, he had plenty of people backing him up, including an atheist athlete and the athletes mother.
The main controversy illustrated in this incident is between two constitutional rights. The first being separation of church and state which the school board is backing up, and the second being freedom of religious expression which Kennedy is backing up. …show more content…
Coach Kennedy is doing absolutely nothing wrong and should be allowed to continue his post game ritual. As long he does not push or force any of the players to join him, he should not be punished. While separation of state and church is and at times necessary, it should not be applied here, Joe Kennedy is in complete power to stand his grounds and defend his freedom of religious expression. Many public schools including my own, have religious clubs on school campus. So while a coach who does not even receive a paycheck from the school district is doing something completely harmless, public schools are providing religion affiliated clubs, and that right there is the actual
The main controversy illustrated in this incident is between two constitutional rights. The first being separation of church and state which the school board is backing up, and the second being freedom of religious expression which Kennedy is backing up. …show more content…
Coach Kennedy is doing absolutely nothing wrong and should be allowed to continue his post game ritual. As long he does not push or force any of the players to join him, he should not be punished. While separation of state and church is and at times necessary, it should not be applied here, Joe Kennedy is in complete power to stand his grounds and defend his freedom of religious expression. Many public schools including my own, have religious clubs on school campus. So while a coach who does not even receive a paycheck from the school district is doing something completely harmless, public schools are providing religion affiliated clubs, and that right there is the actual