He is currently claiming that his Freedom Of Religion allows him to dictate what students are forced to view.
my thoughts on this have nothing to do with right or left wing. It’s a pure freedom of speech issue.
The fact that it happens at all is inherently coercive, regardless of the coach’s intentions, or even actions. Sure, we’ll take it as given that he never said to anyone, “Join my prayer meeting, or there will be consequences.” But say you have a kid who’s trying to make the starting team - being a starter would be a big deal for his college applications, maybe even a couple scholarships. You know the assistant coach does a prayer meeting at half time. He’s never said you’re required to attend, but you also know he’s got a lot of pull over who gets assigned to a starter position. And there’s a class mate, who’s every bit as good as you are at football, who shows up for every prayer meeting, and he’s competing for the same spot. How certain can that student be that his non-attendance won’t affect his chances at getting that starting position? Sure, he doesn’t say, “Bobby doesn’t show up for prayer meetings,” but maybe he does say, “Bobby doesn’t show as much hustle as [kid who shows up to prayer meetings].” You can’t measure “hustle,” after all. Of course, maybe the assistant coach doesn’t do anything like that, but how can you be certain? Is it worth risking the scholarship? Better go to the prayer meeting anyway, just in case.
And, of course, even if the assistant coach is scrupulous about not letting the prayer meeting thing influence his actions as assistant coach, can he be sure that his other students are doing the same thing? If the whole team is going in for that big public prayer meeting, and one kid is standing back because his religious beliefs aren’t compatible with a big public prayer session, are those kids guaranteed to not let that affect how they treat their team mate?
It’s an absolutely terrible decisions, that should be revolting to anyone who believes in the importance of freedom of conscience.
That’s because you have the crappiest information sources.
Like maybe the accused defense team and right-wing supporters?
Agreed, although I think you may be giving them credit for more thought than is due~with them it’s: “it is alright when my side does it”.
This is exactly correct. If a coach went to the 50 yard line after a game to do a satanic prayer or some witchcraft ritual with the team, I think the reaction from that side would be a bit … different.
One might say he’s trying to……inoculate them?
Maybe! What sources did you use to inform your opinion on this matter?
If Hindu gods can be blue a MAGA god can be orange.
I’m thinking he did it solely to show up on Trump’s radar as the choice for Sec’y of Education.
What is all of this concern over one guy praying quietly by himself on a field, and kids deciding on their own to join him?
Oh wait, that isn’t all that happened.
Kennedy began coaching at Bremerton High near Seattle in 2008. He initially prayed alone on the 50-yard line at the end of games. Students started joining him, and over time he began delivering short, inspirational talks with religious references. Kennedy did that for years and also led students in locker room prayers. When the school district learned what he was doing in 2015, it asked him to stop out of concerns of a possible lawsuit over students’ religious freedom rights.
Kennedy stopped leading prayers in the locker room and on the field, but wanted to continue kneeling and praying on the field after games. The school asked him not to do so while still “on duty” as a coach. When he continued, it put him on paid leave. The head coach of the varsity team later recommended he not be rehired because, among other things, he failed to follow district policy.
So if you look at the whole thing in context, while the issue that went before SCOTUS was solely about his desire to kneel on the field, that isn’t all that he did. He led kids in prayer and gave religious speeches.
He did agree to stop doing those things when asked to stop, but the idea that people initially only joined with him because of his quiet example is not true. Any consideration of “coercion” has to factor in the idea of being on a team where a coach is verbally initiating religious speech onto students in a confined environment.
While the initial students that joined him in prayer on the field may or may not have felt coerced, when he felt empowered to actually initiate proselytizing in the locker room, that seems to me when he stepped over the line.
Just read the NY Times or Washington Post, or listen to NPR. If you want business news, read the WSJ. Stay away from the op-ed pages if you don’t like their slant and you’ll get all the news that really matters.
Too late. Linda McMahon has already been nominated.
Especially given the fact that a pledge is something that can only be done once (in the absence of an incident in which one renounces one’s pledge. Then the pledge can be legitimately readministered. Of course, it would be judicious for an observer to be skeptical of such behavior).
We used to know.
And no Juniors!
What would I advise my kid to do? Especially since I see football as a cancer on society.
But not zero [perceived] authority.
This is America. We don’t have lords. It’s in the constitution.
We have plenty of Jesters though. Professional fools. Though I question the professional part.
Has the Republican war on religion really gone so far that people have forgotten what prayer is? Prayer is talking to God. It’s done in one’s own thoughts. The only two people who can know that someone’s praying are the person themself and God.
If people could tell what this coach was doing, what he was doing wasn’t prayer. And his one and only purpose for doing what he did was to get people to join him. And since some of the people he was getting to join him were under his authority, that was coercive.
That’s absolutely not part of any standard definition of “prayer.”
“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” -Matthew 6:6