‘God gave us a warrior spirit’: High school coach Joe Kennedy explains why he fought for the right to pray on the football field

Joe Kennedy was just an average Joe. A retired marine turned high school football coach, he never expected to be caught in the crossfires of a seven-year-long legal battle over the First Amendment.

But when he was told not to pray at football games, Kennedy refused to back down.

As the football coach at Bremerton High School in Washington, Kennedy prayed, religiously, on game night.

“I prayed after every game, win or lose, right there on the 50-yard line. It went on for eight years and the school district never had a problem with it,” he told Chris and Christine Stigall, hosts of the Making the Leap podcast.

Kennedy never forced his players to join him in prayer, and no one ever complained about his practice.

“There was never objection. I did have a couple students throughout the years come up and say, ‘Coach, I’m not comfortable with praying.’ And I said, ‘Cool. What do you want to do [instead]?’ And they said, ‘Well I’ll take care of the equipment; I’ll keep an eye on anybody else that doesn’t join,’ and they showed great leadership,” he recalled. “Those were the guys that I promoted to be my team captains. So nobody ever had a problem with my prayer.” 

But in 2015, certain school officials caught wind of what was happening and were afraid of the backlash they might receive. 

“The school district lawyers [said], ‘It’s so much easier just to remove your freedom and the First Amendment than actually standing up for it,’” Kennedy explained.  

He doesn’t blame the superintendent or even the school board. Instead, he says the lawyers and especially special interest groups – like the Freedom From Religion Foundation – were the ones really opposed to his public prayers. 

So Kennedy stood his ground, all the way to the Supreme Court, where he scored the ultimate victory for religious liberty and constitutional rights. 

But despite getting his old job back, Kennedy decided not to stay in public education.  

“I hate to say it, but I am very much against public education the way that things are going,” he told the Stigalls. “They’ve removed parents’ rights from them, and they’re able to teach these kids all these things that have nothing to do with education. That’s a sad place to be for our youth.” 

Like a true football coach, when asked what advice he would give his fellow Christians, Kennedy talked about tough defense, the need to be warriors. 

“The way that America is going, we’re the last line of defense,” he said. “Stand and fight. You can read throughout the Bible it says it’s not going to be an easy road and we’re going to have to fight sometimes, but that’s what God’s called us to do. He gave us a warrior spirit within us, and we need to stand up for what is right. 

The Making the Leap podcast is produced by The Herzog Foundation, which also publishes The Lion.