Coach Kennedy's Fight for Praying on the Field

Coach Joe Kennedy's journey of faith and conviction began with a simple yet profound act—taking a knee at the 50-yard line to thank God after every football game. This practice, which he faithfully maintained for eight years, eventually led to a significant Supreme Court case that highlighted the importance of religious freedom in America. We sat down with Coach Kennedy at this year’s National Religious Broadcaster convention and talked to him about his story. Below is an excerpt from our discussion. You may watch the full conversation here.

Coach Kennedy's tradition of praying at the 50-yard line was not born out of a desire for attention but from a deeply personal commitment to his faith in Jesus Christ. After serving in the Marine Corps, Kennedy found himself searching for purpose. He discovered a new direction in life through his faith in Jesus and his love for football.

I was watching Facing the Giants, and it was like God was just talking right directly to me. So, I just did what they did in the movie of dedicating everything to God. That was my covenant. I was going to give the glory to God after every game, win or lose, right there on the field. And that’s how it started.

Despite the peaceful nature of his post-game prayers, Kennedy's actions eventually drew the attention of school officials.

It actually started when somebody from another school district came to our game and saw what we were doing, saw us praying together after the game, called our principal and gave a compliment and said, ‘Hey, I just want to tell you what your football program is doing is really awesome.’ So, they started an investigation to find out what was so awesome. And of course, when you start an investigation, you start uncovering things and it brought up a lot of questions. Like, are you forcing these kids? What's happening with this? They wanted the details of it. And at that point, I thought everything was going to be fine. It wasn't until this group caught wind of it and it became public. Then these people came against us and they threatened the school.

Coach Kennedy's decision to continue to pray led him to being fired from what he loved doing most – coaching high school football.

The first amendment is very clear in my mind. I took a knee and right after that they gave me my letter that put me on administrative leave. At the end of the school year or at the end of our season, they stamped big old red letters ‘do not rehire’ and ended my career as a coach. That's what led up to everything is that they took legal action against somebody because they wanted to exercise their faith and that's not right in America.

What started as a prayer on the 50-yard line, ending the career of Coach Kennedy, would lead to a landmark Supreme Court case and a Victory for the first amendment.

Justice Gorsuch wrote when writing in his opinion on this case said, ‘the constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression for religious and non-religious views alike, that the first amendment doubly protects religious speech is no accident. It is a natural outgrowth of the framers distrust of government attempts to regulate religion and suppress descent.’

Kennedy's case serves as a clarion call for Christians to engage in the political process of voting.

"Our days of sitting back and saying that doesn't affect me are over," Kennedy urged. "We have no place to turn now. We have to stand up, or we'll all fall down."

###

My Faith Votes— is a ministry that motivates, equips, and activates Christians in America to vote in every election, transforming our communities and influencing our nation with biblical truth. An estimated 25 million Christians who are registered to vote, fail to vote in presidential elections. My Faith Votes is on a mission to change this statistic by helping Christians act on their faith and vote in every election. When we pray unceasingly for our nation, think biblically about the issues, and vote consistently in every election the impact of Christians taking action from the local to the state and federal level will be unprecedented.

Website | www.myfaithvotes.org Twitter | @MyFaithVotes Facebook | My Faith Votes

React

Comments