THE PRAYING COACH….

Loyal Daily Dawg Readers keep up with the news better than the average educator, so I’m sure that you already know that Coach Kennedy won his case before the Supreme Court. The Court held that it was perfectly OK for him to offer a brief and quiet private prayer at the 50-yard line right after each game. If some students joined him, no big deal.

I will have a lot to say about this case and its implications for teachers in the classroom at the Back to School program this fall.  For now, let me just make two main points. 

Within an hour of the release of the decision I was seeing many tweets and Facebook posts about the Court allowing teachers to “lead the students in prayer.”  Nope. That’s not what the Court has done, and according to Justice Gorsuch’s opinion, that’s not what Coach Kennedy was doing.  There is nothing in this opinion that authorizes teachers to “lead the students in prayer” and much in the opinion to suggest that such a practice would continue to be inappropriate.  Here are a few excerpts from the decision, with the italicized emphasis added by me:

The contested exercise before us does not involve leading prayers with the team or before any other captive audience.

Note: students in a classroom are a captive audience.

In short, Mr. Kennedy did not direct any prayers to students or require anyone else to participate.

Note: if a teacher says “Students, will you join me in prayer?” the teacher is directing prayer at the students.

Nor is there any record evidence that students felt pressured to participate in these prayers.

Note: teachers are authority figures and role models.  At least some students would feel pressure to join with the teacher’s prayers.

So let’s not read more into this opinion than it provides. 

My second point is my confession of failure.  My prediction of the outcome of this case was correct, but my other prediction was wrong.  No one quoted Matthew 6.  I just felt sure that someone (probably the dissenting judges) would: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites.”  Jesus gave very specific instructions about how to pray and it did not involve grabbing the spotlight at the 50-yard line.  The instructions were to go to the closet, shut the door, and speak to God in private.  How can you miss an opportunity to point that out?!?!?! 

Oh well.  Like I said, much more to say about this at the Back to School. I hope you sign up at www.ed311.com.  This one is Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, decided by SCOTUS on June 27, 2022.  It’s located at 2022 WL 2295034.

DAWG BONE: THAT WALL OF SEPARATION BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE GETS JUST A TAD LOWER.

Got a question or comment for the Dawg?  Let me hear from you at jwalsh@wabsa.com. 

Tomorrow: a visit from an old friend….