No one should ever have to choose between their religious freedom and being part of the team.

Joseph Kennedy, a former football coach at Bremerton High School in Washington, repeatedly prayed with his team on the 50-yard line at the end of games, violating students’ First Amendment rights by pressuring them to join.

The school district tried to work with him to find options for him to have time and space for personal prayer while on the job, but he refused, demanding that he be able to pray at the center of the field, out loud, and with students.

Kennedy sued the District. Despite lower courts affirming that Kennedy’s actions undermined the religious freedom of Bremerton’s students, Kennedy’s lawyers, supported by a shadow network of religious extremists, have spun a deceitful narrative and pushed this case to the Supreme Court. Americans United–joined by religious and nonreligious communities alike–is fighting to protect the separation of church and state, the religious freedom of these students, and the constitutional rights of all Americans.

• Schools and Learning
• Why People of Faith Support Church-State Separation
• School-Sponsored Prayer
• Teaching Religion in Public Schools