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ASHLAND –This past week the Supreme Court sided 6-3 with a high school football coach fired for praying on the field after games. The case surrounds Coach Joseph Kennedy and Bremerton School District in the State of Washington. Kennedy, a devout Christian, was fired from his role as varsity assistant coach after he refused to quit praying on the fifty-yard line following games. The court decision marked another win for religious liberty.
Despite the favorable outcome, one team chaplain at a local university believes Christians should be emboldened to pray in public and exercise their faith no matter how courts rule.
“There have been a number of recent victories for religious freedom in the courts. But what happens is determined atheist organizations still attack public institutions to drive Christians out of the public square,” says Pastor Joe Maggelet, Chaplain at Ashland University. “In fact, we are seeing this happen over and over; there is no real repentance in the land.”
Recent examples come to mind. After eight years of legal battles and two court victories, including one in the U.S. Supreme Court, Jack Phillips is still being sued for not baking a wedding cake for gay couples. After the Dobbs Supreme Court case striking down Roe v. Wade, reports abound of elected officials who support killing babies and not enforcing Pro-life laws already on the books.
“The Secular Left misrepresents the truth when any prayer or any type of religious activity is done in corporate settings. Now we are seeing government officials moving the goalposts and not complying with court decisions. What Christians need to do is not just exercise their faith in public places because it is Constitutional, we need to publicly display our faith because it is Biblical, no matter what happens.”
“The Secular Left misrepresents the truth when any prayer or any type of religious activity is done in corporate settings. Now we are seeing government officials moving the goalposts and not complying with righteous court decisions. What Christians need to do is not just exercise their faith in public places because it is Constitutional, we need to publicly display our faith because it is Biblical, no matter what happens.”
Chaplain Joe MAGGELET
“Since Ashland University is a private school, we have a different situation. We do chapel with our football team, we do Bible studies with our players. We do not force anything on any player. But we have a Biblical mandate to mentor these young men.”
In the Kennedy decision, Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered the majority opinion, ruling that the Bremerton School District violated the Free Exercise Clause and the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment by firing coach Joseph Kennedy for praying after games. Gorsuch further ruled that the district failed to prove that Kennedy violated the Establishment Clause
“If schools can fire a coach for praying on the fifty-yard line after a game, then a school could fire a Muslim teacher for wearing a headscarf in the classroom, or prohibit a Christian aide from praying quietly over her lunch in the cafeteria,” Gorsuch wrote.
Justices in the majority included: Gorsuch, Alito, Thomas, Barrett, Kavanaugh, and Roberts.
Like a football coach telling his team to stick to fundamentals, Joe Maggelet is hoping Christians follow Kennedy’s example by being Biblical, even when it may or may not be Constitutional. “Future court decisions, no matter how they land should not change anything we do. If the Secular Left is willing to fight for what they believe, how much more should we?”
View the video produced by First Liberty Institute below.
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The Bottom Line:
The Bible says in Daniel Chapter 6, “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.”
