Coaches and Prayers

There are bunch of posts about the Coach who “led” or “didn’t lead” prayers whose termination resulted in a Federal Case.

Mods, please place them here.

So, short version: Coach prayed after games, allegedly to himself, but players joined in perhaps under duress.

Another opinion/article, from April 2022:

Summary

The Supreme Court’s decisions interpreting the First Amendment ban on “an establishment of religion” have, at times, relied on different frameworks to determine if this ban is violated. Legal scholars refer to these competing frameworks by names such as the “endorsement test” or the “coercion test.”

Under the first framework, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote in 1984, government actions that endorse a particular religion or religious belief are disfavored because such endorsements send “a message to nonadherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and an accompanying message to adherents that they are insiders, favored members of the political community.”

Under the latter framework, endorsements are sometimes permitted, but not if they coerce individuals into a religious exercise. The Court’s decision in Lee v. Weisman (1992), moreover, suggests that school-sponsored religious activities are inherently coercive — both because of the power school officials wield over students, and because of the peer pressure facing young people who visibly refuse to participate.

In a 2006 opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer appeared to propose a third framework, arguing that the establishment clause of the First Amendment must be interpreted to prevent “divisiveness based upon religion that promotes social conflict.”

There are important differences among these frameworks. The endorsement test, for example, disfavors many governmental displays of religious symbols that are permitted under the coercion test. But Kennedy’s actions violate any of these competing legal tests. He endorsed a religious viewpoint while acting as a representative of the school district. His actions pressured students into joining him in a religious activity. And he appears to have actively stoked religious divisions.

Anywho, Supreme Court decided that a public school employee is allowed to Establish Religion.

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Wanted to let you know that this request has been seen.

I’ll see what I can do tonight; but other mods might help out before hand.

I might modify the thread title to be more generic, though; but I’ll see what the conversation looks like.

Thanks. I know it’s not all that easy. There is no time limit.
I think I’d like to keep the title with “coach.”
Heck I’d like to change it to “fuh-baw coach” since they seem to be the ones most exploiting religion as a control device.

Looking through the various posts, I think it might take more time than I originally thought; some posts might properly remain while others clearly need to move. I haven’t quite found the “starting point” where the divergence began (I find it far easier to make decisions by starting there) . . . I should be able to tackle this tonight.

I was thinking of a thread title of "(Public) Religious Expressions by Coaches & Other Authority Figures (or something along those lines).

retitle should include coaches and other authority figures acting within their role as public school employees.

private school coach -pray away with the squad. local association - do whatever and let the association establish what is ok.

the decision was garbage IMO. the coach can certainly pray. he can even do so in front of the players while at work. he should not lead imo while working on the public school dime.

3 Likes

In the least shocking news of the week, the perfomative dishonest religious fraud behind the OP has continued to be dishonest and performative.

https://twitter.com/seattletimes/status/1571137780394115074?t=xwV48BZbAHkAHjADDYpX6g&s=19

The school district says it’s trying to rehire the former coach — after being ordered to do so — but he’s on the political circuit and hasn’t called them back, writes Danny Westneat.

I forgot that Bible story.

On the eve of the first game, which the Knights won, Kennedy was in Milwaukee being presented with an engraved .22-caliber rifleat an American Legion convention.

Also, WTF that he wasn’t fired, but put on leave, contract expired and failed to apply.

His lawyers lied to the Supreme Court about him being fired.
And when it was pointed out, the Theocratic Court decided that the facts didny mayter and they cared more about pushing their faux-christian agenda.

One of the remedies required by the school was to rehire him.
Rehire him to a job he was never fired from and that he never applied for.