Thoughts about Kennedy v. Bremerton School District

There has been a lot of criticism aimed at the ruling in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. My understanding of this case is that a high school football coach was praying on the field before football games. Others started joining him. This raised the question of whether this was a man exercising his religious freedom or if he was pushing his views onto children.

When I first heard about this case, I was reminded of a similar incident. An entire football team at Garfield High School in Seattle knelt during the national anthem. The coach defended the actions of his team by insisting that the players made a unanimous decision to kneel. He also explained how teaching his team that the national anthem was racist was a part of his football program. Although the national anthem definitely has problems, what does it have to do with football? Even though this issue doesn't touch the issue of religion, there is definitely a parallel. This coach used his position to lead his players to a decision he wanted them to make.

I have spent years criticizing schools for creating a culture of fear and exploiting children in an authoritarian environment. The prayer might have been optional, but his players could end up acting in fear of an authoritarian figure. They might have feared the consequences of rejecting the views of their coach.

Similar to the fear, there are a lot of students who like the benefits of getting on the good side of their teachers. There are reasons that students frequently suck up to their teachers. It's good for their grades. Since coaches play a similar role as teachers for the same institutions, some students could join in prayer that makes them uncomfortable purely because they feel they will benefit.

Whether or not this coach's actions were acceptable primarily comes down to whether or not the government worker used his position of influence to coerce his players to embrace his religious views. Even if this was not his intent, it does appear that there was coercion. If he really wanted to exercise his religious freedom by praying before games, this should have been done in private. My understanding is that this opportunity was provided to him.

There's one truly bizarre component of this ruling. Teachers and their unions are among those insisting that being in a position of authority was sufficient to influence the players. This is true, but it's also contradictory to their usual messaging. Teachers have repeatedly insisted that students having the same views as their teachers has nothing to do with the skewed narrative they have provided. They insist that they should be trusted with their messaging. They have actively fought attempts to reign in their influence. They even defended the actions of the coach at Garfield High School.

This contradiction makes something too clear. The narrative from teachers isn't about right and wrong. It's about partisanship. Encouraging athletes to kneel for the national anthem more closely reflects the views of the Democratic party. Encouraging athletes to pray before a game more closely reflects the views of the Republicans party. Whether or not it's acceptable to push a viewpoint into children should not depend on the politics of that viewpoint. This also shows that teachers are pushing a liberal bias onto students.

The Supreme Court ultimately ruled in favor of the coach. Perhaps they trusted what teachers were saying prior to the ruling. In this case, I have to disagree with the justices. When government workers are pushing their religious beliefs on citizens, even if this is not the intent, this defies the concept of religious freedom. The government and its employees should not be able to push a religion on citizens.

I am among the minority of Americans who had the same opinion of the Patriot Act under Bush as I did when Bush's signature was replaced by Obama's. That law was a bad idea regardless of whose name was attached. When schools overreacted to both a homemade clock and a non-violent battlefield cross, I was among the minority who sided with the innocent children in both cases. When Donald Trump announced the 1776 Commission to counter liberal propaganda, I was among the minority that insisted that propaganda is wrong regardless of which party pushes it. I also among the minority of Washingtonians who opposed our sex ed law and openly criticized Florida's Parental Rights in Education bill due to the reliance of both on enforcing the disastrous status quo model and viewing unique individuals as little more than their ages. It appears that I am once again ending up in the minority as I am consistently against high school football coaches using their authoritarian role to exploit children.