{"id":5429,"date":"2015-11-08T09:20:20","date_gmt":"2015-11-08T14:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=5429"},"modified":"2015-11-08T10:32:49","modified_gmt":"2015-11-08T15:32:49","slug":"separation-vs-elimination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=5429","title":{"rendered":"separation vs. elimination"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photo-1445768593937-05a3f7832b68\"<\/a>And then there was this\u2026<\/p>\n

Joe Kennedy, an assistant high school football coach in Bremerton, Washington, was placed on paid administrative leave by the school district 10 days ago for bowing in prayer on the field following football games. He was not leading anyone in prayer \u2014 simply admittedly, praying himself.<\/p>\n

Let me add three pertinent facts:<\/p>\n

(1) Students often joined him.
\n(2) He never asked any students to join him.
\n(3) Kennedy has been doing this since 2008.<\/p>\n

Kennedy was suspended because he engaged in an overt, religious display on the high school football field. He was suspended because he knowingly prayed to Jesus Christ in front of other people on public property \u2014 and most likely (although this point is opinion, not fact)<\/em> someone, somewhere complained. Most likely, someone, somewhere complained that the exercise of Kennedy\u2019s individual rights infringed upon their individual rights. So question: are one person\u2019s rights more important than another?<\/p>\n

Just asking, friends.<\/p>\n

Said the district, “While attending games may be voluntary for most students, students required to be present by virtue of their participation in football or cheerleading will necessarily suffer a degree of coercion to participate in religious activity when their coaches lead or endorse it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In other words, a student\u2019s required presence at the game may subject them to potential coercion to participate in a religious activity; the presence of Kennedy\u2019s practice may pressure a possibly, trepidatious teen. Granted, remember that multiple students have been required to be at those football games for the past 8 seasons \u2014 the duration of how long Kennedy has silently, overtly bowed in prayer.<\/p>\n

The district added, \u201cKennedy\u2019s conduct poses a genuine risk that the district will be liable for violating the federal and state constitutional rights of students or others.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the risk? Is Kennedy harming other people? Are they harmed by being exposed to the seemingly sincere faith of one man even though it is a silent, individual representation? Is that bad?<\/p>\n

So let me ask about 47 more questions\u2026 ok, just kidding\u2026 but here\u2019s where my head is at the moment\u2026<\/p>\n

Do you agree with the suspension?<\/em><\/p>\n

Is this a simple case of the separation of church and state?<\/em><\/p>\n

Does the separation of church and state ever equate to attempts to eliminate all church in state?<\/em><\/p>\n

Are we at the point now where school feels a need to prohibit the free exercise of religion?<\/em><\/p>\n

Would the school district act the same way if it was a yamaka \u2014 or burqa?<\/em><\/p>\n

Should we then outlaw any religious practice, observance, or display?<\/em><\/p>\n

Are we not mature enough to observe what might be good and right and true of another religion?<\/em><\/p>\n

Are we so easily seduced by another\u2019s silent, individual behavior?<\/em><\/p>\n

Do we thus need government to control it for us?<\/em><\/p>\n

And how, by the way, can we actually tell if another is praying?<\/em><\/p>\n

Can one discern if another is really communicating with God?<\/em><\/p>\n

Is that allowed? \u2026or only allowed if no one knows it\u2019s happening?<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh, so many questions\u2026 so many more inconsistencies\u2026 We certainly seem to struggle some days with what is good and true and right.<\/p>\n

Respectfully\u2026
\nAR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And then there was this\u2026 Joe Kennedy, an assistant high school football coach in Bremerton, Washington, was placed on paid administrative leave by the school district 10 days ago for bowing in prayer on the field following football games. He was not leading anyone in prayer \u2014 simply admittedly, praying himself. Let me add three … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “separation vs. elimination”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[538,148],"class_list":["post-5429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event","tag-joe-kennedy","tag-separation-of-church-and-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5429"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5438,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5429\/revisions\/5438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}