US Supreme Court backs high school football coach in praying on field after games

The US Supreme Court ruled that a high school football coach's right to pray on the field following games was protected by the Constitution. Critics of the ruling claimed that it would lead to "far more forceful prayer" in public schools.

With the conservative justices in the majority and the liberals dissenting, the court rendered a 6-3 decision in favour of the coach. It was the most recent decision for religious plaintiffs in a string of victories.

The issue had the judges struggle with how to strike a balance between students' rights to be free from peer pressure to engage in religious rituals and teachers' and coaches' rights to exercise their free speech and religion.

With the conservative justices in the majority and the liberals dissenting, the court rendered a 6-3 decision in favour of the coach. It was the most recent decision for religious plaintiffs in a string of victories.

The issue had the judges struggle with how to strike a balance between students' rights to be free from peer pressure to engage in religious rituals and teachers' and coaches' rights to exercise their free speech and religion.

The liberal justices who dissented claimed there was proof Bremerton (Washington) High School Coach Joseph Kennedy coerced children with his prayers at the 50-yard line and used them as an opportunity to inject his "personal religious convictions into a school event."

The ruling "takes us further down a risky path by requiring states to engage themselves with religion," stated dissenting Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her opinion.

The majority of the justices, however, underlined that the coach's prayers took place after the games had ended and at a time when he was free to engage in other activities and wasn't in charge of the kids.

The coach and his attorneys at First Liberty Institute, a Christian legal group, were among those cheering the decision. Kennedy said in an interview that his first reaction was one of pure joy.

"Just like in all my football games I just threw my arms up, you know, touchdown,'" he said. He described the seven years since the dispute began as tough on his family but "absolutely worth it."

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