Celebrated Evangelical pastor Franklin Graham has praised the return of Washington state highschool coach Joseph Kennedy, a Christian who was fired from his job for praying on the soccer discipline.
“I am glad to hear that Joe Kennedy has finally been reinstated as a football coach at the Washington state high school he was dismissed from for praying on the field after games back in 2015,” Rev. Graham famous in a March 15 Fb submit.
The reinstatement of Coach Kennedy is “great news,” Graham stated, in reference to the announcement that months after successful on the U.S. Supreme Court docket, Kennedy has lastly been allowed to return to his submit this week.
Kennedy’s case went all the way in which to the U.S. Supreme Court docket the place final summer time justices made a 6-3 ruling in his favor, Graham wrote.
Final June, the Supreme Court docket sided with Kennedy in what was touted as an vital win for spiritual liberty in the US.
Kennedy, a religious Christian who started working at Bremerton Excessive Faculty in 2008, was fired from his submit as varsity assistant coach and because the junior varsity head coach after he refused to give up praying on the 50-yard line in full view of the general public following video games.
In delivering the bulk opinion in Kennedy v. Bremerton Faculty District, Justice Neil Gorsuch acknowledged that the Bremerton Faculty District had violated the Free Train Clause and the Free Speech Clause of the First Modification by firing coach Kennedy.
“Respect for religious expressions is indispensable to life in a free and diverse Republic — whether those expressions take place in a sanctuary or on a field, and whether they manifest through the spoken word or a bowed head,” Gorsuch wrote. “Here, a government entity sought to punish an individual for engaging in a brief, quiet, personal religious observance doubly protected by the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment.”
“I am incredibly grateful to the Supreme Court, my fantastic legal team, and everyone who has supported us,” Coach Kennedy stated in response to the ruling. “I thank God for answering our prayers and sustaining my family through this long battle.”
For his half, Rev. Graham stated he hopes Coach Kennedy “will continue to kneel in prayer — on and off the field — and that this win will protect and encourage others in the same situation!”
Thomas D. Williams is Breitbart Rome Bureau Chief and the writer of The Coming Christian Persecution.
Learn the complete article here
