HARRISBURG – In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today in favor of Coach Joe Kennedy, a high school football coach who was fired for taking a knee and praying at the 50-yard line after games, where he was often joined voluntarily by members of the team. The school told Kennedy that he was not even permitted to pray silently, alone at the 50-yard line. Chirf Counsel for the Harrisburg-based Independence Law Center, Randall Wenger responded, “This is a great victory for religious freedom. When something as small as a 30-second prayer at the end of a football game can cause a coach to be fired, but teachers are crossing the line by advocating for any manner of political or ideological views in the classroom, it’s clear that we’ve not achieved neutrality towards religion. Religious speech should be treated with the same respect as other speech, not reacted to like asbestos that must be entirely remediated from school.” The Independence Law Center wrote a brief on behalf of the PA Family Institute and other family policy councils highlighting the importance of religious liberty and free speech. The Court recognized that private speech – including religious speech – should be protected. Wenger added that “Religious speech is not second-class speech.”
RANDALL WENGER