Prayer is an important thing for a lot of people.
Some people might be devout religious folks, while others might just say little prayers here and there for themselves and others.
Whatever the case may be, the choice is still completely yours.
Even if youโre not religious, you probably at least respect other peopleโs right to do it of their own volition.
And really, that goes for any religion. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and so on.
When people tried to interfere with this coachโs prayers, it caused a big dispute and upset many folks.
The coach in question is Coach Joseph Kennedy of the Bremerton School District.
The school is based in Washington.
Coach Kennedy made it a habit to pray on the field before sending his players out to the field.
Kennedy eventually had some of them join him if they wanted to.
However, as harmless as it was, not everyone found it as harmless.
What exactly could the reason for that be?
The reason was that the school aimed to be โneutral.โ
You could understand an establishment wanting to be neutral so they donโt seem biased toward any religion, right?
On paper, that makes a ton of sense.
The United States is a predominantly Christian nation, but that doesnโt mean you wonโt get the occasional practitioners of Islam, Buddhism, or Indigenous religions here and there.
Well, it wasnโt as reasonable as that.
See, the school thought that by letting Coach Kennedy pray with some of the students, it would mean that they were endorsing the religion that Kennedy follows.
So they removed him from his job so they wouldnโt appear to โendorseโ Kennedyโs beliefs.
People did not react well to this, and neither did Kennedy.
This goes without saying, but thatโs a very debatable reason.
After being fired over this, Kennedy decided to dispute it.
It can be a tricky subject to navigate.
However, as far as anyone can tell, Kennedy wasnโt demanding anyone else join him in his prayers.
Everything was volitional โ including the students who joined him.
Itโs pretty unfair to remove him from his job over that.
Why shouldnโt a man with a lot of faith get to express it by himself?
Kennedy took the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor.
The case was long and difficult, but it ended well for him. He would get his old position back that he lost in 2015.
Itโs not over yet, though. Kennedy and the school district are still exchanging terms for how heโll be allowed to conduct prayer on his job when heโs back.
But heโs made great progress in returning to his job and clarifying his position.
Most of us may not share Kennedyโs opinions, but youโve got to be fair to him here: firing someone over something like that is a bit much.
Still, itโd be nice to hear more thoughts on this.
Do you think the story had more nuance than just what weโve seen here?
Click the video below to learn more about this coachโs story.
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