Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 605 | Coach Kennedy & Today’s SCOTUS Hearings | Guests: Joe Kennedy & Jeremy Dys

Episode Date: April 25, 2022

Today we're talking to former high school football coach Joe Kennedy and his attorney from First Liberty Institute, Jeremy Dys. Coach Kennedy has been locked in an eight-year legal battle with his former employer, Bremerton School District, after the district took issue with Kennedy's tradition of saying a silent prayer after football games. Despite Kennedy trying his best to work with the school district officials and find a way to compromise, they were insistent that any prayer he does must be completely out of sight, and now the case will be heard before the Supreme Court. Obviously, the case is ridiculous, as Kennedy has a First Amendment right to express his religious beliefs. But Jeremy Dys points out that this case could have dire implications for the right of free speech in America, as the leftist activists in the school system and justice system who stand against Coach Kennedy vehemently want to push any expression of Christianity out of public sight.  --- Today's Sponsors: Naturally It's Clean has safer chemistry formulas to clean every area of your home from the bathroom to your hardwood floors to your kitchen. Go to NaturallyItsClean.com/ALLIE & use promo code 'ALLIE' to save 15% off your order! Annie's Kit Clubs — make the most of your rainy days with a new kit every month including all the materials & directions you need to make a project. Go to AnniesKitClubs.com/ALLIE & get your first month 75% off! PreBorn — will you help rescue babies' lives? Pre-Born centers have counseled over 450k women considering abortion. To donate, dial #250 & say keyword 'BABY' or go to Preborn.com/ALLIE. --- Show Links: SCOTUSblog coverage/timeline of Coach Kennedy's case: https://bit.ly/3MopORY Listen to the oral arguments for Coach Kennedy's case before the Supreme Court today - Kennedy v. Bremerton School District https://bit.ly/38kWWLI First Liberty: Live! at the Supreme Court - April 25: https://bit.ly/3kd2bja --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise- use promo code 'ALLIE10' for a discount: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Hey guys, welcome to relatable.

Happy Monday. This episode is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to Good Rancher.com slash Alley. That's good ranchers.com slash All right, guys. Today we are talking to Coach Kennedy. You may have heard his story before. He is the coach from Washington State that prayed before football games and then was sued for it. And now for the past seven years, he has been in court battles over there.

this. And his case is before the Supreme Court today, you can listen to oral arguments online. And really, they're deciding, can you pray on the property of public schools? And I'm kind of like rolling my eyes as I'm saying this because it's kind of insane that we are even having that debate. But today we're going to hear his story. And we are going to hear from his lawyer as well, like what the arguments are and why this matters for all of us. Before we get into any of that, I would just ask. I like to ask every now and then if you guys love this podcast. If you could please leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, that would mean a lot. Also, we've got some amazing t-shirts that just came out last week.

We've got a raise a respectful ruckus t-shirt. And we also have a Politics Matter because policy matters because people matter t-shirt and lots of different colors. We'll link it in the description of this episode so you can click on that and check that out. Plus, if you use my code, Allie 10, you get 10% off. So it's great for you. Great gift. Also, guys, if you're listening or watching, it is a great.

Mother's Day gift. A lot of people commented on my Instagram post saying that this would that they want this for Mother's Day. So pay attention, pay attention. But we've got other stuff coming out too. And so yeah, I'm really excited. You guys have been asking for merch. And so we finally got it. Check that out if you have it already. All right. Let me give you some context about this whole Coach Kennedy case. As you can imagine, a lot of people on the left think that he should not have the right to pray without any coercion of the students or any kind of like official backing of his public school, he should not be able to pray at football games. And Slate, of course, ran this very negative article about him claiming a bunch of things

that just aren't true. So I just kind of want to give you a taste of what's being said. And what I think is the very unfair coverage surrounding this. And it kind of helps us understand really what moment that we're in when we're talking about this. So Slate claims that Coach Kennedy led explicitly religious prayer circles with students at the 50 yard line after the game. but the truth is that Kennedy started praying alone, as we will hear today. He did not stop students who wanted to join him, but he actually didn't ask them to. That was not a program that he started. Slate also claims that the school district repeatedly sought to accommodate his beliefs,

asking him to pray in a less public location to avoid conveying the school's endorsement of his beliefs. But the reality is that the school district advised Kennedy that his motivational speeches must remain entirely secular in nature and that any religious activity must be physically separate from any student activity and students may not be allowed to join such activity, which again, he did his best to accommodate at every level. Of course, Slate claims that he refused, but actually he temporarily stopped praying to accommodate this request, but he convicted to pray by himself after the games as he felt that God directed him to do, and so he did. Slate also claims that he hired or he hired far right First Liberty Institute to threaten the school with a

lawsuit. That is also not true. One, you can just bet if people on the left say far right, what they just mean is that like to the right of Bernie Sanders, they're not far right. They are constitutional lawyers that care about our freedoms and thank goodness for people like First Liberty. The truth is, is that Coach Kennedy hired the lawyers after initially complying with the school's request. And by the way, he's just trying to uphold his constitutional rights. That's not threatening the school. It's not attacking the school. Of course, as the left often does, they try to make it into like a Republicans pounce situation. And they try to say that the left is being victimized when in reality they're not. Then he says that the slate says that he and his lawyers

launched a media blitz falsely claiming that he had been persecuted for a quiet private prayer. But in actuality, that's true. It's not a social media. Bleds. They're just trying to raise awareness about what was happening because, as you will hear, he was also, he had to quit his job because of this. He had to be removed from this position. And of course, he exaggerate saying that his prayers had become this like great spectacle, that he was trying to draw attention. But as you will hear for him today, from him today, that is not what was happening. He had a brief silent prayer. This is silent prayers that we're talking about. And then 20 players in October of, I believe it was 2015 from the other team

knelt by him and also prayed. So they're voluntarily doing this. This is not a program of the school. He's not coercing. He's not asking anyone to, anyone to do this with him. And for that, he has been in a legal battle since 2015. And so this is troubling. The question is, like, do you have to check all of your sincerely held beliefs at the door when you enter into the public square? And if so, why? Secularists don't do that. Secular progressivism is not a neutral worldview, and they certainly bring in their worldview and their beliefs about gender and morality and God and sexuality and truth in America into every sphere that they occupy. And they try to dominate institutions and curriculum and corporate policy

with their particular worldview, which is very religious in nature. So why is it that conservative Christians have to not only be relegated to private prayer, but not even that, that they actually have to bow down to secular progressivism in the public square rather than representing their beliefs in a way that is not coercive, but in a way that is simply genuine and obedient. Why is that there that in an unfair standard? I have confidence that the Supreme Court is going to rule justly here. I think that we can all hope that is the case and pray that that is the case, we believe in this kind of religious liberty for people of all backgrounds. But of course, there are some unfair, unfair allegations and reporting when it comes to this case. He has been

very, I think, unfairly maligned in the media because of this. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Alley, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular.

This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Okay, guys, thank you so much for joining me. you said a few minutes ago that you guys have done like 40 interviews together, is that right? Yeah.

So y'all are like a married couple finishing each other sentences, that kind of thing. I can tell the dynamic works. And so I'm excited to talk to both of you. I'll talk to you about the story. I know because you guys have done so many interviews, a lot of people are familiar with the story. But there's a lot of people who aren't. There's a lot of people who don't know your story, don't know what's been going on for the past several years. And so I just want to get that story once again.

And this is a faith-based podcast. This is a Christian podcast. And so we want to hear about your faith and how the Lord has sustained you through what I imagine is a pretty big trial in your life. Yes. So let's go back. Let's go back to 2015 or if we even want to go back to 2008 when you were originally hired, we can. How did all of this start? Why are you guys doing interviews together?

Why do people even know your name? I would have to say we would want to start about 2008. Okay. And when I was offered the job as a high school football. coach in Burmerton, Washington. And it was really by a fluke, and God kind of showed up and gave me a calling. I had no idea. I just retired from the Marine Corps, and I was out on a run, and the, what was he, the athletic

director from Burminton School District, saw me out running, and I had my wrestling shoes on and a Burmerton shirt on, and he stopped me and wanted him kind of my bio. And he said, we're looking for coaches. And that's how it all started, really by a fluke that, you know, know, somebody told him to, hey, we need coaches and God picked me. Yeah. Wow, that's amazing. And before we get into kind of the trouble, if you will, that all started. Tell me a little bit about your testimony. Tell me about your Christian faith, how you became a believer. It started right about 2007. I retired from the Marine Corps and married my childhood sweetheart.

and it was just really cool how God worked that out because, I mean, we haven't talked in 30 years plus, you know, and so we ended up together and she was a, she grew up in the church. She was, you know, always the good girl and I was always a bad kid. So she invited me every Sunday without fail, hey, would you like to go to church with us? And of course I had every excuse under the sun. Right. And one day our son said, well, if he doesn't have to go, do I have to go?

And, you know, being a parent, it's like, wow, I'm setting a bad example for him. So I put on a nice shirt and went in there and, of course, I sat there like this the whole time. Well, my wife was having a lot of problems. She was abused when she was a kid and she was in a very abusive marriage to the, you know, where it came, she had to run away and go to a woman's shelter. So she had a hard time dealing with being close. of somebody in letting her guard down.

And I knew I wasn't getting through. So one day at church, I just broke down. I don't know where it came from. I just fell to my knees and, you know, basically exposed my soul to God and said, hey, I can't do this myself. If you help me with her, I'm going to give you my life.

And that's the way it started. And that was about 2007. That was 2007. So you met your wife around, around that time? When we reconnected, I met her when we were both nine years old. Yes. I'll tell her that story because that's a fun little story. Yeah, why not?

People love it. This is mostly women who are listening to this podcast, and so we definitely love stories. Okay. It might sound cheesy, but my brother and I, we were, he came home from school, and I wasn't going to that school because I got kicked out of it, you can imagine, being in, what is that, third grade? and he came home and said, there's this new girl that lives down the road.

She's so beautiful. And of course, I had to go see. I was like, let's go talk to her. So I walked up her driveway, and there's this little girl sitting on the front porch, and I walked right up to her, and she looked at me, and this is the cheesy part, I think, but it's so true.

She looked up at me, and she brushed her lung bangs out of her eyes, and I saw her brown eyes, and it was like slow motion, and my jaw just... And you were nine years old at this point, And I'm just looking at her with my mouth wide open. And she goes, can I help you? And I said, yeah, I want to marry you. She said, you're creepy.

I'm going in the house. Yeah. And from that moment on, well, actually me and my brother, we went back to the house fighting over it. It was the first fist fight we ever got into. Oh, my goodness. Who was going to marry her? And I could say I won that one.

Yeah, you won. And I won overall, too. Yes. Wow, that's incredible. Okay, so fast forward now. You're married to your wife, 2008, just by God's Providence. you are hired as a coach at this high school. And then when did you start praying on the field?

And then when did that become a problem for some people? Okay. They offered me a job on a Friday. And I said, well, give me the weekend over it and be a new baby Christian. Let me pray about it and talk to over with my family. Three of our kids were in Bremerton schools. So our daughter and our middle son, they were both at the high school. I didn't want to intrude.

on them, it's bad enough to have me around the house so you can imagine what it's like having your dad at school too. So we had a lot to talk about. And then the movie Facing the Giants came on in the middle of the night and it was an answered prayer. God, you know, God never shows up when you want him to, but he does when you need them to. And I fell to my knees and it was the answer call. And in the movie, the guy said, I'm going to give you credit, you know, I'm going to give the glory after every game, win or lose. And that's where I decided to do that. I made a covenant. and it got right there in my living room floor. And the very first football game, that's exactly what I did.

It was all by myself. And I just thank God. And it was something simple. Well, a couple of the kids came over months later and said, Coach, what are you doing out there? And I said, just thanking God for you guys. And they said, can we join you? Well, yeah, it's a free country.

You can do whatever you want. So they started coming out, and it kind of became more and more. it wasn't always because if you lose, sometimes kids don't want to celebrate and they sure don't want to have a moment of peace. They want to lick their wounds and go back onto their life. Or sometimes if it was a great win, they're going crazy and want to hang out with their girlfriends

and the fans and everything. So it was one of those hit and miss if they came out, cool. If they didn't, cool. Made absolutely no difference. I would just thank God every time after the game. Yeah. And then when did it actually be? become an issue that has started this whole legal battle over several years because it sounds like

people were excited about it. It wasn't really a big deal. There were just students joining, but then obviously at some point, someone got offended down the line, right? Well, it's interesting. It came from a compliment. In 2015, one of the administrators from another school district, they saw what we were doing and called the principal. And the principal said, or they told the principal, hey, what your football program is doing is really awesome. They saw the sportsmanship after the game where two teams came together. And, of course, when you get a compliment, you want to start an investigation. And that's where it all started.

They investigated it. And we worked for a long time, it seemed forever, to trying to work through everything. Because these guys are my friends. You know, the superintendent's a good friend of mine. We've worked together for almost a decade. And I didn't want to fight with them. They didn't want to fight with me. we wanted to resolve everything as quickly as possible.

But as Jeremy will tell you, they started moving the goalpost and then it goes into this huge timeline of basically it came down to me or them telling me, hey, you either stop praying or you lose your job. Can you give us a little bit more insight into what was going on behind the scenes? Why do you think they decided to make this a thing, make this a big deal? Why do you think that they decided that this was? contentious and that they were going to basically take this to court. You know, it's hard to figure that out, and much of that,

they're going to have to answer for themselves on that. But there seems to be this kind of reigning thought, especially within the school districts right now, that if religion pops up on campus, they've got to stamp it out, almost like it's a virus that's going to go get everybody sick of a new pandemic, if you will, and they've just got to stamp it out before it infects everybody. And I don't know that that's necessarily an intentional thing. I think a lot of times it's just they're so nervous about that because there's been so much controversy around the country, unnecessary controversy about it,

that they just feel the need that I have to just shut it down. The interesting thing in Coach's case is when they said, hey, look, you're praying with the kids that needs to stop. He said, okay, that was never my commitment to God in the first place. I'm happy to do it by myself. He stopped immediately. I was early on in September of 2015. He never prayed with the kids ever again.

And it was not going to be a problem. We thought, honestly, when this case started, you know, maybe three weeks in this case is over. Well, here we are seven and a half years later. on the sixth round now of litigation at the Supreme Court of the United States, we're still going. Why did it extend? What happened past the three weeks that made it keep going? So coach asked, look, I'll just go back to doing my thing of, you know, praying by myself

at the 50-yard line. And they started saying a couple things. Well, number one, this is going to take away from your job responsibilities. At least that's the argument that they made because, you know, taking a knee for 15, maybe 30 seconds in silent prayer will keep him from supervising the kids, at least is what they were saying. So, and so, well, is there a compromise we can come up to? Because we couldn't think of something. They said, we'll tell you what. You can go across the field, cross the track, up to flight to stairs, across your practice field, inside the school building, down the hallway

and into the janitor's office, and you can pray there. Well, that would take a lot more time and take away from the supervision. Right. So clearly that narrative was not true. They just said also, you know, you go up the press box, and that way nobody will see you up there. Well, that's interesting, too, because you have to follow the same path, except you've got to go outside the stadium, and back down the sidewalk, across a catwalk, then you've got to clear everybody out of the press box, and then there's these giant windows up there, too, that everybody can see. So that clearly wasn't a problem either. They just simply didn't want it on the field.

And then they started saying, well, we recognize that, and this is their words, that your prayer was fleeting, and it was getting closer to whatever it was that they wanted, but still they could see you. And because they could see you, the students could see him engage in that. And he's wearing a shirt much like he's wearing right now with the Bremerton logo on it, and they know he's an authority figure. Well, that's an establishment. That's coercion that would violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Well, that's not true, but that's the argument they came back with here.

So there was really no more room for compromise. It was either he stopped entirely or violate the Constitution according to the school district. And so we were at an impasse. Something we thought would be a very reasonable compromise. You know, you got a 50-yard line that's 50 yards wide. He could do it anywhere on there, but because they could see him, engaged in demonstrative religious activity, they said, that was enough to violate the Constitution. So now seven and a half years later, we're still litigating that question.

I saw an argument being made from the other side saying, you know, this isn't just about his constitutional right. This is about impressionable students and the way that he has affecting impressionable students, which is hilarious considering the conversation surrounding some legislation in places like Florida. Impressionable students apparently are being coerced into, I don't know, your religious activity by seeing you pray. I guess that's the argument that's being made. What has been the history? Why is this still going on?

And why are you now at the Supreme Court? What led to this? I find that argument fascinating coming from a school. Right. Because a school is charged with teaching things. And so if they're concerned about him, you know, engaged in a personal activity that could be violating, well, they have the opportunity to educate the audience. And if the school district can't educate the audience as to his civil rights,

one's got to wonder if they can teach anything at all within a school district here. So they could have put a sign up, they could have made an announcement, and they could have done any number of things to explain what was going on. Instead, they chose to fire coach for taking 15 to 30 seconds on a knee and silent prayer after the game at the 50-yard line. And the danger now has become that the Ninth Circuit adopted their reasoning on this whole thing. And so the basic standard for the Ninth Circuit now is that if you're engaged in demonstrative religious activity as a teacher or a coach within the public schools, you could be terminated from your job

that Coach Kennedy has been. So what does that mean in practicality? Well, the ramifications of this are huge. If a teacher were to, for instance, say grace over her lunch in the cafeteria, and students can see that person engaged in that demonstrative religious activity, well, that could be grounds for termination. But what about the teacher who wears a yarmica or a hijab

or a crucifix around their neck while teaching? All of those things are outward displays of religion. private acts of worship. Some are required by their faith even. Those could be grounds for his terminate. Now, the school district will say, no, no, those are different. Well, tell me how. Those are exactly the same scenarios. One happens to be, you know, on a knee like you're tying your shoes, but you're praying. And so where this will go? I mean, it has huge ramifications for teachers and coaches across the country. Think about coaches that, you know, you have a quarterback that goes down in the all the game and maybe they've got a torn ACL and that kid's future is just ruined right there.

And the coach bows his head just a little too long. Is that going to be enough for that coach to be terminated just because he's engaged in demonstrative? praying that this kid's future is not ruined? I mean, that's not the country that we've grown up and no one should be fired from their job for having to choose between their faith and their livelihood. Didn't a student group at one point invite the Seattle Satanists to one of the games? Is that something that happened? That's somewhat true. There was a teacher that was involved with that. And I know the kid, great kid, he was a student body president, and we have talked many, many times. And he thought it was going to be a big, you know, good versus evil kind of thing. And it would diffuse everything.

That was his plan. But the teacher who was involved in it was one of the ones that was the organizer and participated in it. And it was quite a spectacle. ridiculous. I was just hoping that they would actually come in and buy a ticket and maybe some hot dogs because all that money goes to our football program. Yeah. So you thought that maybe it would turn out to be something that actually benefited the school in the situation. I would have been perfect. They could have sat right beside me. I would have been all right. Hey, maybe they would have been, if they're impressionable, maybe they would have been influenced by your prayer. Be careful now. You never know. You never know. All right. Before I get into what you think is

going to happen in the Supreme Court. I know that the conservative justices issued some kind of statement saying that they were concerned about your First Amendment rights. I just want to hear from you personally how this has impacted your faith. I'm sure that it is not the outcome that you thought was going to come about when you took this job in 2008, even when there was that covenant in your words with God, where you said that you were going to live out your faith and give him glory. Surely you didn't think that it was going to be this challenging, correct? That good way to put it. Yes. And so just tell me kind of what it's been like for you and your family, emotionally and spiritually. I would say the first, probably first couple years was the

worst. Definitely the first, probably six months. I thought my wife and I were not going to make it. It's a little known fact that she worked for the school district that we're suing. And not only did she work there, she was the HR director for the school district. Wow. So you can imagine the friction that caused. And I was a new believer, and I had absolutely no way of being able to tell her why I had to do what I was doing. And it wasn't until the... But she didn't really understand it first?

No, not at all. She thought I was, you know, and of course she blames herself, and she's like, I'm a bad wife because I'm mad at my husband. I'm a bad Christian because I'm mad at God. And she's mad at herself because she can't be a good employee because she would normally handle all of these issues. And it was just a perfect storm for us. And I thought we were actually, we couldn't talk. You'd come home and say, hey, how was your date? No, not that. I mean, what do you talk about? There's a giant, you know, not even an elephant. It's a trinosaurus in the middle of the room. And it was so awkward. And it was great how God showed up at that. I was

about ready to leave and she was crying on the bed. I was at my wits end because I didn't, I didn't know how to deal with any of this and I'm hurting the person that I love the most. And I was walking out of the room and I got a text message and I'm like, who in the heck is calling me at this time? And as I walked out, I clicked it and it was a video. It was the coach from facing the Giants. And he said, I understand that you're having some hard times. and let me tell you, I almost fell down the stairs. I broke our railing off and my wife comes running out. Oh my goodness.

She's like, she goes, are you okay? And I hand her my phone and she goes, okay, well, you know, trying to help me up and I couldn't. What's wrong? And I just kept pointing to my phone. And then she looked at it and she sat down and she hit play and we sat there and bawled her eyes out. And that solidified our relationship, especially with God.

He became the center of our relationship. Before it was always, God was always part of it. and we were individual parts, but that totally solidified it. After that, it became a lot easier as far as my relationship with God and with my family. It made it all worth it, that, you know, we went through the hard time together. But it has been a long, drawn-out battle. Seven years is longer than anybody should have to, you know, go through one of these things. I thought it was going to be like law and order where something happens one day,

you're in court the next day and then the next day you're back doing what you love. When they said it was going to be a three-week project, I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, we're in the middle of the football season. Yeah. We only have four games left. I can't wait three weeks to get back on the field. So I really thought we could all work it out into, you know, especially the first week. And I thought we were all on the same sheet of music.

And I tried to abide by everything because I have no hard feelings towards them. And the superintendent doesn't have any hard feelings towards me. It's the lawyer. I always blame the lawyers, of course. Lawyers, they make a mess out of everything. Yeah. Can't live with them. Can't live without them, I guess.

Yeah, I think it's illegal to kill them too. Yeah. So tell us about, I know you already did a little bit, but tell us about the most recent iterations and the most recent events on this timeline and what you are expecting as far as the Supreme Court goes. Yeah, and it's probably best to start with actually looking back in history because it's come full circle now because the school district is now arguing. And this is clearly the attorneys that they've adopted for the appeal that are making this argument that he was coercing kids into prayer. Well, that's demonstrably false. I mean, if you go to Coach Kennedy fact.com, you can read these for yourselves on October 21st. So this is a week before he's suspended. The superintendent sends an email to the head director of schools in the state of Washington. And in that email, he says this has changed from, this case is shifted from becoming a case about a,

coach praying with the athletes to a coach praying by himself at the 50-yard line. Five days later, he would take his last knee after the JV game on October 26th. Two days later, he suspended. And on the day they suspend him, they put a Q&A out on the website. And they said, you know, we've done this whole investigation. There is indeed no evidence that any student was coerced into praying with the coach at all. And yet they continue to maintain to the Supreme Court that he's engaged in coercing these students.

their hashtag is pray to play, which is just simply false. Number one, he didn't have any time. He didn't control winning to my eye twitch. I know. I mean, I know it's speculation and maybe you can't say, but is it just, do you think it's ideological for them, their motivations? What's in it for them? Well, I think the school district has pure motives. They're just trying to figure it out. Yes, but that's for the attorneys. The attorneys, I think may have a different agenda on things. And I don't like to cast aspersions too much on what that may be, but their arguments here justify reality, if that makes some sense. And so I think the Supreme Court's going to, the Supreme Court's no fools.

I mean, they've got good justices, their clerks are top-notch. They're going to look into the record, and the record is very clear how coach stopped praying with the kids when he's asked to stop praying with the kids, and they refuse to allow him to continue the practice of just by himself for 15 to 30 seconds, taking a knee in private prayer at the 50-yard line. There should be no major concern about that whatsoever in this nation that values the free exercise of religion. And yet they've denied that to him time and time again, even though they said it was, quote, fleeting that he was engaged in that kind of activity. And so to deny him that entirely, and to make him choose between the job that he loves and his faith, well, that no American should have to make that decision. Right.

I hope, and again, it's a bit of a fool's errand to try to handicap the Supreme Court of the United States. but I would hope that the justices, even the liberal ones, would understand that important principle because what happens to Coach Kennedy, look, at the end of the day, I just want him back on the field with his kids. And if that's the only decision, great. But if it goes beyond that, if the standard is that if you engage in any kind of religion in the public square, your employer can fire you. Well, the promise of the First Amendment is all but dead. And it seems to me, from my perspective, that Christians are held to a higher standard. You mentioned if someone is wearing a hijab, someone is wearing any kind of outward expression of their faith, is that going to be considered an act of worship that is a fireable offense?

It doesn't seem that that is the standard that's applied across the board. It seems like there seems to be a higher standard for Christians engaging in prayer. Maybe that's my personal bias. Well, it's just to say that. And it's sorry to interrupt, but it's the one of the judges in the Ninth Circuit wrote this entire opinion. And it was an unfortunate narration. Let's put it that way. But at the very end of it, after criticizing him for his free exercise rights and even for talking to the media, which I thought was kind of interesting,

he kind of commits the First Amendment trifecta, violates the Estabstaffirn Clause, violates the Estabrant Clause, violates the freedom of the press, all in the same act. So it was kind of crazy. I'm horrible because I'm talking to you. But if being a bad citizen is not bad enough, according to this judge, at the very end of it, he says, you know, as I read the Bible, we're not supposed to go out in public and pray. we're supposed to go into our prayer closet. Now think about that for a second.

This is a federal circuit judge that is basically declaring that coach is a bad Christian. Well, that actually is an absolute clause violation. That is actually telling him how he should or should not behave according to his religious beliefs. And yet the irony is lost entirely upon the other side that a federal circuit judge would declare him basically to be a bad Christian. He knows that by himself. Trying to love God and love others, we fail at that every day. But we don't need a federal judge to tell you that you're a bad Christian. or not. Right. That has no bearing, should have no bearing. And of course, that is

theologically misleading, because the point of that passage is not really about where we are praying, but the posture of our heart when we're praying. It's about, you know, Pharisees wanting the glory, which is not why you were praying. You weren't praying to be seen. You weren't praying to be celebrated. You were praying because that is what Christians do. That's where called to pray without ceasing. Yeah, I think that's in the Bible somewhere. Yeah, I think so too. And so, you know, a reminds me so much of what the lawyers argued in Jack Phillips's case when they compared him to, when they compared his actions to, uh, Genghis Khan and all the rest. Yes, racism and Nazism and discrimination against people. They're making these theological

moral statements beyond legal statements, which really does reveal kind of an ideological motivation, which I think is really frightening. And again, should be frightening for people, no matter their political affiliation, no matter their religious affiliation, when you think about the possible implications of that for people's expression of religion or lack of expression of religion. So what do you anticipate is going to happen? When do you anticipate this decision? So we're going to have the argument on April 25th at the Supreme Court of the United States that's coming right up. And then by the end of June, we should have a decision. Wow. You know, there's a case back in the 1960s.

It's a very famous case called Tinker v. Des Moines. It's the student armed band case protesting to Vietnam War. And the court said that it's been the unmistakable holding on that court for well over 60 years that neither students nor teachers must shed their constitutional rights when they walk through the schoolhouse gates. That case dealt with students. And so we know that students don't have to shed their constitutional rights when they go through the schoolhouse gates. This case really could answer the second part of that, which really never has been well answered by the court. Must teachers, must coaches shed their constitutional rights when they go through the schoolhouse gates? How many of them must they shed?

In what way do they have to shed them? Does the state own all of Coach Kennedy's speech just because he wears a Bremerton Knight's T-shirt or a polo shirt? So if he's at Cracker Barrel and he says grace over his meal and the student is sitting across the way and sees that? Is that an exception clause violation? I should hardly think so. But we're going to find out just how many constitutional rights our public employees have when they walk through the schoolhouse gates by this case. Yeah. And what is your prayer, your hope, your thought process right now?

Oh, it's been what it is from the beginning that I just want to coach high school football, you know, and I want to be able to thank God afterwards. I mean, to me, it's not a big ask. And it seems weird it's going to Supreme Court just to ask to do something so simple and has been part of my life for, you know, decades. So, yeah, hopefully we will have a win and put my faith in God. He's got all this and the justice system that, you know, the Supreme Court. court will actually rule on the facts instead of their own made-up stories. And in addition to praying, is there anything my audience can do to offer support to help? They can go to firstliberty.org. They can actually send a note of support to Coach Kennedy through

that website. He reads those. He loves those when they get those, those things come through. But also, I mean, go to Coach KennedyFacts.com, which is a part of our website anyway. But tell the story to everybody else around you. Share the videos that are on that page that tells his whole story. Coach has a very fascinating story that we've just barely scratched the surface of. I mean, adopted kid kind of goes into foster care through most of his life, starts living on his own at the age of 15, goes in the Marine Corps, serves our country, which is probably the most painful irony here is that here he fought for the freedoms that he's been denied. And it's just, it's just terrible. So firstliberty.org, coach kennedyfax.com, we'll get you more information

about coach. But actually, you are fighting for our freedoms now in a different way. And so it's not necessarily on the same front lines that you were before, but by simply expressing your faith in a way that was obedient to God, you are still, to this day, fighting for the freedoms that you fought for when you were actually a service member. So thank you for that. Thank you for your courage. I know it's not a battle that you meant to engage in, but you did for such a time as this, and I'm thankful for what you guys do as well. Gosh, we need. We need, I know lawyers, they can be a pain, but we need good ones, right? Two against one here now. Yeah, that fight for freedom. So thank you guys so much.

And I do encourage people. My audience is a very encouraging, supportive audience. So I know that you're going to get a ton of messages, kind messages from them and prayers, absolutely. Thank you guys so much for taking the time to come on. Thank you so much. Hey, this is Steve Deast. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality.

We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch the Steve Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join. this.