Supreme Court to hear case of praying coach who lost his job after kneeling on the field
The case is one of several before the high court this term dealing with the intersection of government and religion.
John Fritze- Kennedy claims the school violated his First Amendment rights by not re-upping his contract.
- A federal appeals court ruled that the coach was acting as a public employee when he prayed after games.
- The Supreme Court is likely to rule in the case early this summer.
WASHINGTON – From coach Joseph Kennedy's perspective, the yearslong fight over his decision to pray on the 50-yard line following his team's football games is clear cut: He made a promise that he would offer his thanks on the field – win or lose.
"That's where I made my commitment to God before I even took the coaching job," Kennedy told USA TODAY in an interview. "There on the field of battle."
But the constitutional questions raised by Kennedy's prayers have been anything but simple, implicating a decades-old struggle over how far public schools must go to accommodate the religious beliefs of employees and whether – at some point – they bump up against the notion of keeping church and state separate.
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