The school district decided that the practice must stop because it violated the “establishment clause” in the First Amendment. So what does an assistant high school football coach do when he is ordered to cease his habit of honoring God after each football game? He knows that to continue puts his job at risk.
For a couple of weeks he complied but after speaking with attorneys with the Liberty Institute he decided to continue doing what he always did but he told the team not to join him because he was disobeying this order. After the game he went to the fifty yard line and knelt down to pray as usual. With his head bowed and eyes closed he prayed. At the end he opened his eyes to discover he was surrounded by the opposing team, his team and others there to support his right to pray.
Much of the confusion with school districts and others is due to a lack of understanding of the First Amendment which reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…” This does not say local government or state agency it says specifically Congress. This means a federal law. Establishment of religion means creating a national church of the United States such as the Church of England.
It then goes on to say, “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” which means they cannot prohibit American Christians from living out their faith daily as their conscience dictates. The First Amendment religious clause deals with the Christian religion on a national level. The states were free to establish state churches and over half of them did but slowly that changed and by 1837 or so none of the states had an official state church. It is important to understand that this Amendment was strictly directed at the Christian churches or denominations that were in competition with each other. It was not directed at any other religion. It was never intended that other religions would dominate America.
Even though the First Amendment deals with freedom of speech (which meant political speech in all its forms), freedom of the press, peaceful assembly of the people and the freedom or right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances; this Amendment was first and foremost aimed at religious freedom. The purpose of this was to protect the church from government intrusion not to protect the government from church intrusion.
On the contrary, the framers of the Constitution knew that the new Republic would only survive if the people were religious and of moral character. Consequently, they did much to support and promote religious faith. So this idea of “separation of church and state” is not mentioned in our Constitution. It is however mentioned in the Constitution of the USSR and the Humanist Manifesto.
Progressives have been trying to turn the United States of America into a Humanist/Communist country for over a century. From the very beginning of the new nation after Washington was sworn into office, there were American intellectuals who, after visiting France, bought into the progressive thinking that brought about the bloody French Revolution.
Progressivism is not new in fact in is old and has a track record that is not good. The policies and philosophy of progressivism have failed in every place they have been tried. As the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “…And there is nothing new under the sun.” That is why the framers and founders crafted a Constitutional Republic that relies on laws instead of men. It was the progressive judges on the Supreme Court who made decisions based on a false interpretation of the Constitution who are responsible for the decline in traditional values and the battle for religious liberty.
As Americans, most of us have a natural inclination toward understanding our God-given rights. With that comes the understanding that once we lose our most basic right – freedom of religion – then the rest of our rights will be taken away as well. They all hinge on the first right of religious liberty. Coach Kennedy stood up for his rights willing to accept the consequences and was shocked to see all those who came out to support his right to do that! Are you willing to do the same?
Dinner Table Discussion Question: If only Congress was restricted from establishing a state religion and the free exercise, shouldn’t they have over ruled the Supreme Courts’ decisions by passing legislation undoing what the judges did? What are some possible reasons why they didn’t act?