The Glenn Beck Program - Ep 142 ｜ This SCOTUS Case Will Decide if America Is Still a Free Country ｜ Coach Joe Kennedy ｜ The Glenn Beck Podcast

00:00:00.000 Prayer works. I want to say this scientifically. Literally, prayer works.

00:00:05.840 Even for non-believers, it reduces stress, increases optimism, enhances self-esteem.

00:00:13.860 It actually regulates heartbeats. It's been this way since the foundation of the world.

00:00:20.380 Now, for believers, it's much more than that. It's dialogue with our God.

00:00:25.580 It's our meditation. It's our surrender to the power that guides us and watches over us.

00:00:32.440 If it's done correctly, it humbles us. It's our connection to revelation and tranquility.

00:00:40.220 We know that prayer can save us, protect our loved ones, our leaders, our nation.

00:00:44.660 And that's why believers do it. So that kind of covers everybody, really.

00:00:50.060 Today, our guest believes strongly in the power of prayer.

00:00:53.580 And as a football coach, he had a ritual of praying after games.

00:00:58.160 You'll hear why. Players then started to join him, kneeling in on the 50-yard line.

00:01:04.240 Players eventually from both teams.

00:01:06.780 He wasn't praying over the loudspeaker and demanding people to join.

00:01:10.840 He was praying quietly. And anyone who wanted to join him was welcome to.

00:01:16.360 He didn't invite them. They asked if they could join.

00:01:19.840 He said, it's a free country.

00:01:21.240 Well, people didn't like that.

00:01:24.200 The school board said he had violated school policy on religious-related activities and practices.

00:01:30.840 But even the local school and school board were reasonable about things.

00:01:37.020 He complied for a minute, not for long, because then the attorneys got involved.

00:01:43.240 He went back to praying publicly, and it cost him his job.

00:01:48.240 But before he was a coach, he served 20 years in the Marine Corps, defending the rights and freedoms.

00:01:54.620 Kind of their thing. Kind of what he did for 20 years.

00:01:58.540 In the end, he decided to sue the school and stand up for the First Amendment.

00:02:03.940 The Supreme Court is expected to hear this case in just a few weeks.

00:02:08.180 Here's what I want to know.

00:02:11.460 Why is anyone threatened by someone offering a silent prayer?

00:02:17.360 And is there still room for God in this country?

00:02:21.660 Or will we have to fight for our faith all the way to the highest court in the land over and over and over again?

00:02:30.040 Don't answer that. Let's see how the Supreme Court answers that.

00:02:35.060 Today on the Glenn Beck Podcast, Coach Joe Kennedy.

00:02:39.600 If you're somebody who is in pain a lot, may I suggest there is some hope.

00:02:45.860 You know, I was on the Grin Iron for so many years when I was younger.

00:02:50.460 Played college ball.

00:02:52.480 Was in the NFL for a while.

00:02:56.180 And man, oh man, the pain in my knees and everything else.

00:02:59.620 That's why I take Relief Factor.

00:03:01.200 Actually, I did none of those things and I was still in pain.

00:03:04.540 So, so much for staying in shape, right?

00:03:08.180 Relief Factor attacks inflammation, which is the major source of our pain, in four different ways.

00:03:13.580 Not a drug, but developed by doctors.

00:03:15.600 Try it out, please.

00:03:16.560 70% of the people who try it go on to order more.

00:03:19.460 So, drug-free, natural way.

00:03:20.840 Get your life back.

00:03:21.700 It's ReliefFactor.com.

00:03:23.140 That's ReliefFactor.com.

00:03:25.360 Now I've got to get back onto the Grin Iron.

00:03:40.240 Hi, Joe.

00:03:41.280 How are you doing?

00:03:41.840 Very good.

00:03:42.380 Thanks for coming in.

00:03:43.280 Thank you.

00:03:43.920 Yeah.

00:03:44.180 I'm excited to, I'm actually, I read this case that you're involved in is so important,

00:03:51.980 important, and excuse the pun, but game-changing, I think, if you, if you win, and especially

00:03:58.900 if you lose.

00:04:00.020 But I, I've done some research on your life story and you have a fascinating life story.

00:04:10.500 Can you just like literally start at the beginning?

00:04:13.860 Oh, sure.

00:04:14.960 Okay.

00:04:15.220 It's funny, I was sitting out on the bench, you got out there for Forrest Gump, and I

00:04:19.200 felt, I feel very much like him.

00:04:20.920 It's like, it's just my life, you know?

00:04:22.840 Yeah, it's life's like a bowl of box of chocolates.

00:04:25.320 Exactly.

00:04:25.860 Right.

00:04:26.280 It started out, I was adopted, and my parents, they couldn't have kids.

00:04:30.480 They, they were just, we're a good Catholic family, and you know, you've got to have a

00:04:34.900 lot of kids.

00:04:35.700 And they couldn't have them, and they adopted a girl.

00:04:38.900 About a year later, they adopted me, and a few years later, through nature, or through

00:04:45.480 science, or by the nature of God, they started having kids, and they started popping them

00:04:50.140 out like crazy.

00:04:51.960 And after five kids, they really didn't need my sister and I anymore.

00:04:56.020 Oh my gosh.

00:04:56.740 So we sat down, when I was about seven, you know, I figure I was just a happy, rambunctious

00:05:01.640 kid, about seven.

00:05:03.240 And then they told us that we were adopted, and it kind of drove a wedge right there, and

00:05:08.600 I became one of those really angry kids, and over the next couple years, I completely

00:05:13.340 derailed.

00:05:14.280 Okay, so wait, why did they tell you you were adopted?

00:05:17.720 Were they, they didn't need you anymore?

00:05:20.160 Yeah.

00:05:20.480 What do you mean?

00:05:21.320 How did you know that they felt that way?

00:05:23.460 I was told them many times.

00:05:25.380 Oh, okay.

00:05:26.160 Yeah, the worst thing they ever did was the day they adopted me, and stuff like that.

00:05:30.140 Oh.

00:05:30.160 But to their defense, I was a terrible, terrible kid, right?

00:05:34.080 I mean, there's no easy way to say it.

00:05:36.020 I was a kid that you would not want your kids around anywhere.

00:05:39.840 Okay.

00:05:40.860 So that takes you up to about seven years old.

00:05:45.580 And then what happens?

00:05:49.800 Is this when you go to Mount Rainier fishing?

00:05:55.140 I basically did everything from that age.

00:05:58.000 I was in and out of group homes, foster homes.

00:06:02.440 Because they gave you up?

00:06:04.120 They basically kicked me out, and I ran away.

00:06:06.580 Okay.

00:06:07.040 Between both of those, I went and stayed at a bunch of different places.

00:06:10.940 Okay.

00:06:11.360 To the grace of God, I had some neighbors next door that I still call my parents, and

00:06:16.120 they're the ones that basically raised me, kept the camper open, so I had a place to sleep

00:06:20.520 at night, and yeah, I...

00:06:23.300 But you technically, you were still, you still had the foster, I mean, the actual adoptive

00:06:28.800 parents.

00:06:29.420 Right.

00:06:29.720 They were still, yeah, they were still around, but I didn't want to have anything to do with

00:06:33.540 them, and they didn't want to have anything to do with me.

00:06:35.900 They actually moved away while I was gone at one of the foster homes, and I didn't even

00:06:41.040 tell me.

00:06:41.680 Wow.

00:06:41.960 And so then, there's one point in your life where you go fishing up at Mount Rainier, and

00:06:48.540 you say it was the best day, maybe my research is wrong, best day of your life, just you

00:06:52.980 and your dad.

00:06:53.900 Oh, yeah.

00:06:54.860 So, up at Port Angeles.

00:06:57.040 Okay.

00:06:57.480 All right.

00:06:57.680 Yeah.

00:06:58.140 So, out of the blue, he said, hey, let's go on a vacation.

00:07:03.040 I'm like...

00:07:03.600 Just you two?

00:07:04.400 Just us two.

00:07:05.280 Yeah.

00:07:05.460 And I, you know, I'm like, okay, what's the catch here?

00:07:07.940 How old?

00:07:08.520 I was probably, probably 11 or 12, somewhere right in there.

00:07:15.220 All right.

00:07:15.540 And this is the first time him and I have really done anything together.

00:07:19.580 It's, I mean, just one-on-one, because he was always busy with his kids.

00:07:23.360 And so, we went up there, and we went fishing, had a great weekend.

00:07:28.080 It was one of those bonding things you always dream about, you know, the dad and son, you

00:07:32.820 know, weekend.

00:07:33.420 And, man, I was just, I was like, man, this is just, it's changed my life completely.

00:07:39.460 And I got back to the house, and he said, just stay in the car for a minute.

00:07:45.040 And so, I'm like, all right.

00:07:46.860 I didn't think anything of it.

00:07:48.340 Comes over and puts a bunch of stuff in the trunk and gets in the car, and I'm like, what's

00:07:52.700 going on?

00:07:53.700 And he started driving.

00:07:54.700 And he said, well, the reason why I took you up there is because we needed to pack up

00:08:00.020 the house and get you sent to this boy's home over in Eastern Washington.

00:08:04.880 Oh, my gosh.

00:08:06.340 I said a couple choice words, I'm sure.

00:08:08.780 And then it was a dead, quiet silence of just loathing the whole time there.

00:08:15.440 What a betrayal.

00:08:16.640 Yeah.

00:08:18.440 So, then what happened?

00:08:19.740 So, ended up at a, it was a Christian boy's home, and they were awesome.

00:08:26.740 There were some guys that were really manly men, you know, that didn't have a problem picking

00:08:32.580 me up by the neck and putting me through a wall when I needed it.

00:08:36.380 But there was also the guys that really sewed, you know, good words into you.

00:08:41.640 And they taught me about what it means to be a follower.

00:08:45.320 And I, of course, I rebelled for months and months, and it was kind of a challenge.

00:08:51.920 They said, you know, just try it.

00:08:53.880 You know, what do you got to lose?

00:08:54.980 You're here anyway.

00:08:56.080 So, I tried out the God thing, and when I was there, it fit me like a great suit.

00:09:00.480 I was just, man, this is awesome, you know?

00:09:03.340 When God works in your life, it was just really great.

00:09:05.660 And we had devotions and, you know, prayer time and scripture readings and everything.

00:09:12.480 So, it was, when you're surrounded by it, it's easy to do.

00:09:16.960 As soon as I left the boys' home, I, of course, went right back to my default and became that

00:09:22.740 little terror again.

00:09:24.040 And my life just kind of spiraled out of control until I joined the Marine Corps.

00:09:29.880 And the Marine Corps will beat that out of you.

00:09:32.100 Yes.

00:09:32.540 Yeah, it's amazing some of the things that I need.

00:09:35.820 You know, some of the kids I coached, you know, they needed a firm, you know, grasp

00:09:41.140 by the helmet every once in a while, and some of them just needed a hug.

00:09:44.360 And I was able to get a lot of my training for being a coach from the boys' home and

00:09:50.340 through all those experiences.

00:09:52.520 I have a good friend who works for me now.

00:09:55.400 He had pretty much the same experience that you had, except he was never adopted.

00:10:00.940 And he was, I think, 12 or 13 and on his own, you know, rented a place.

00:10:12.600 I don't even know how, but got a job, rented a place.

00:10:16.440 No heat.

00:10:17.300 I mean, you did this for a while, didn't you?

00:10:19.260 Yeah, I was a teenager.

00:10:20.340 I had my own apartment in Bremerton.

00:10:24.260 How do you do that as a teenager?

00:10:26.980 Well, at the time, it's easy.

00:10:28.540 You just, you know, you get to know some of the not-so-savory people in town, and they

00:10:34.200 have these little slums.

00:10:36.360 And I was like, hey, I need a place.

00:10:38.360 And he charged me 200 bucks.

00:10:40.640 And I had no electricity, but I had a roof over my head.

00:10:44.280 I had running water, a bed.

00:10:47.280 And how were you earning the 200 bucks?

00:10:49.180 Uh, I don't know if I should really go into a lot of that, but I did have a job part-time.

00:10:55.560 But also, I, you know, lied, cheated, stole.

00:10:59.180 I did all the things that you shouldn't do to her mind.

00:11:01.720 Uh, and then, uh, when did you, you went to the Marine Corps, you were in Desert Storm.

00:11:10.300 Yes, that is correct.

00:11:11.320 Spent 20 years, uh, did just about everything.

00:11:13.880 Started out from a diesel mechanic, and I had a knack for training.

00:11:18.300 So I became everything there is to train, uh, the martial arts program, swim instructor,

00:11:25.000 rifle range, uh, anything I could possibly do for excitement.

00:11:28.860 I, I was that, and I ended up being the senior enlisted for a reserve unit, uh, out of Portland,

00:11:35.780 Oregon, when I retired.

00:11:37.500 Wow.

00:11:38.320 Seattle, Portland.

00:11:40.080 How are you not a communist?

00:11:42.000 I, you know, I'm a fighter, I think.

00:11:43.960 I could think for myself mostly.

00:11:45.520 I don't, I don't buy into the news.

00:11:47.040 Yeah, yeah.

00:11:47.680 Um, okay, so, um, when did you get married?

00:11:51.400 When you, in the service?

00:11:53.760 Uh, well, I proposed to my wife when we were nine, and, uh, she told me I was creepy, so

00:11:59.100 that didn't work out.

00:12:00.340 Wait, okay.

00:12:01.040 She was nine, and you were nine?

00:12:02.600 Yeah.

00:12:02.920 Oh, yeah.

00:12:03.220 Yeah, okay.

00:12:03.680 Because it would have been creepy if she were nine, and you were, let's say, 20.

00:12:07.660 That would be a little creepier.

00:12:08.620 Yeah, that'd be creepy.

00:12:09.400 Yeah, sure.

00:12:10.220 Yeah, but we're both nine years old, and I, I proposed to her, and she said I was creepy,

00:12:13.920 and went in the house, and from that moment on, my brother and I fought. 0.88

00:12:17.240 I got endlessly over who was going to marry Denise, and I whooped his butt that day, and, 0.98

00:12:22.900 uh, yeah. 0.60

00:12:23.820 I, I won 31 years later, when I was about to get out of the Marine Corps, I reconnected

00:12:28.740 with her, and it was like the first day I saw, and it, that was it.

00:12:33.580 We, we got married, and.

00:12:35.240 Does she remember you asking her at nine?

00:12:37.120 Oh, yeah.

00:12:37.580 Yeah.

00:12:37.960 Yeah.

00:12:38.160 She still thinks it's kind of creepy.

00:12:41.560 But if she would have listened, we could have been married for, what, you know, 40-something

00:12:45.140 years now?

00:12:45.880 Yeah.

00:12:46.380 It would have been great.

00:12:47.080 Uh, so, so when you got married, because if I understand you right, you're not, you

00:12:54.300 are a, a religious man, you deeply believe, but you're not like a Bible quoter kind of

00:13:01.360 guy, right?

00:13:02.060 No.

00:13:02.620 Right.

00:13:02.760 Yeah, I, I couldn't tell you, you know, I, I know there's a couple verses, you know, like

00:13:07.780 fight the good fight.

00:13:08.740 Yeah.

00:13:08.880 I, I probably have a lot of references that sound biblical, so I kind of roll with those

00:13:13.680 a lot.

00:13:14.200 Right.

00:13:14.660 My biggest thing is trying to love God and love others, and I suck at that, and I spend

00:13:19.580 half my time thanking God for what he's given me, and the other half the time asking him for

00:13:24.340 forgiveness because I screwed it up early.

00:13:26.780 Yeah, yeah.

00:13:28.000 Um, was your wife real, real religious?

00:13:31.420 Yeah, she, she would be somebody I would consider religious.

00:13:34.200 She was, grew up in the church, uh, she had a really rough childhood, um, real rough.

00:13:38.880 Rough marriage, and very abusive background, and she really attached herself to God, and

00:13:44.420 it got her through all of those, you know, hard times in her life, and that's how I ended

00:13:50.160 up going, is she kept asking me every Sunday, just once, hey, want to go to church?

00:13:55.400 And of course, I was too busy, I wanted to watch football, work in my car, anything.

00:14:00.120 Well, then my son said, well, if he doesn't have to go, do I have to go?

00:14:03.820 Oh.

00:14:04.620 Yeah.

00:14:05.400 See, I, I, uh, I did the opposite.

00:14:07.180 I asked my current wife to, uh, marry me, uh, and she said no, and I said why, and she 0.99

00:14:13.020 said because we don't have a faith that we share, and, uh, I said, oh, church doesn't

00:14:18.880 work.

00:14:19.500 I said, you come over to my house on Sunday.

00:14:22.100 I've been watching HBO all morning, and I'm good, and you come over pissed because somebody

00:14:26.160 was yelling at the parking lot, you know?

00:14:27.900 And, uh, uh, and she was right.

00:14:32.100 I mean, it's, I don't know if we could make it without God.

00:14:35.900 There's too many things that happen along the way that if you don't have an understanding

00:14:43.260 of something bigger that holds you together, I don't, I don't know if you can make it.

00:14:47.040 Yeah, that's actually how, um, we made it, uh, because the first, uh, couple of years

00:14:51.880 we were, we were married, it was, it was really tough because, you know, all the abuse she

00:14:56.140 went through.

00:14:56.920 And I mean, to the point where she was in a woman's shelter to hide from her ex-husband.

00:15:01.720 And so she had a lot of barriers up and a lot of defenses, and I didn't know how to

00:15:06.340 break through them.

00:15:07.380 And it finally came to the point where, uh, you know, I'm sitting in church, you know,

00:15:11.400 pouting and sitting on my hands.

00:15:13.180 Yeah, I'm not doing anything, being defiant as always.

00:15:16.860 And I mean, I, I couldn't break through and it was wearing on both of us.

00:15:21.760 And she kept trying to push me away. 0.87

00:15:23.660 And finally I broke down and, and right there in church, I ran up to the, to the altar thing

00:15:28.560 they have and way off to the side, cause I don't want to be front center.

00:15:31.720 Way off to the side.

00:15:33.040 And I just fell down and I, I, I cried out to God, Hey, you got to help me with this.

00:15:37.760 I can't do this on my own.

00:15:39.080 And if you help me with my marriage, I will give my life to you for, for the rest of my

00:15:44.520 days.

00:15:45.020 And my wife came up and saw that and it broke down every barrier she had.

00:15:50.920 And we just sobbed together right there in front of the whole church, which was now I

00:15:55.920 think kind of embarrassing, but at the time I didn't know I was the only person.

00:16:00.860 It was just me and God up there.

00:16:02.900 So we found out this week that inflation is up 8.5.

00:16:06.920 That's what it's currently.

00:16:08.120 Um, if you, if you score it, if you will, the way we used to measure inflation back in

00:16:15.260 1980, we are at 17.1.

00:16:19.980 Bad news is it's only going up from there.

00:16:23.120 If you are looking to save money without sacrificing quality, then please check out good ranchers.

00:16:30.920 This is delicious American meat to your door.

00:16:34.960 It, it not only has to be the best product out there at the best price, but in my, in

00:16:40.080 my feeling, it needs to be American beef.

00:16:43.040 This is 100% American meat at a great price.

00:16:47.920 Good ranchers.

00:16:49.280 These are American ranchers who are like, why what's happening here?

00:16:53.660 I want to sell it directly to you.

00:16:57.080 You will get $30 off.

00:16:59.100 They're already low prices.

00:17:00.480 Plus free shipping.

00:17:01.840 If you go to good ranchers.com slash Glenn, you can do a one-time order or subscribe and

00:17:08.560 save an additional $25 on each box.

00:17:11.280 But this is the real key.

00:17:12.540 If you subscribe, your price will never go up for the life of your subscription, which

00:17:20.220 I mean, they may go out of business because of this.

00:17:22.920 I mean, inflation is coming and you can't get a deal like that anywhere else.

00:17:27.880 Inflation proof meat, good ranchers.

00:17:31.260 And if you don't buy the meat in your house, tell the person who does to check them out.

00:17:35.740 Good ranchers.com slash Glenn, good ranchers.com slash Glenn.

00:17:40.400 So I guess maybe we should bring your, uh, your counselor in, uh, your attorney at this

00:17:47.260 point.

00:17:47.680 Oh, the smart guy.

00:17:48.500 Yeah.

00:17:48.860 Jeremy dice.

00:17:49.760 Uh, he is from, uh, uh, first Liberty Institute been on the program several times.

00:17:55.700 What you guys do at first Liberty is remarkable.

00:17:59.300 Um, it's weird that you are this guy who you're not, you know, a Bible thumper. 0.90

00:18:07.520 Um, you don't necessarily seem to be the guy who's like, Hey, I want to be out in front.

00:18:14.680 Um, and, uh, you're not, uh, you don't strike me as the guy who's just trying to rope everybody

00:18:23.260 in.

00:18:23.860 Yeah. 0.99

00:18:24.320 I'm just an average schmuck who just wanted to coach football. 0.99

00:18:27.280 Right. 0.98

00:18:27.740 So you're coaching football, um, in Bremerton, right?

00:18:31.460 That is correct.

00:18:32.460 There's your first mistake.

00:18:33.540 Yeah.

00:18:33.720 I mean, I grew up, but I grew up in the Pacific Northwest.

00:18:38.660 You understand.

00:18:39.400 Yeah.

00:18:39.620 I love it.

00:18:40.740 Uh, but I just don't think I could live there with the craziness now.

00:18:44.460 It's just, it's beyond crazy.

00:18:46.480 It's beyond crazy.

00:18:47.460 Yeah.

00:18:48.020 Um, so this starts maybe when 2008, 2008.

00:18:53.440 Uh, when I was asked to start coaching.

00:18:55.580 Okay.

00:18:55.880 That's my first year.

00:18:56.760 And because I know I did the same thing.

00:18:59.460 I screwed the first part of my life up like crazy and completely surrendered to the Lord.

00:19:05.160 And I made him a promise.

00:19:06.740 I will do what you tell me to do.

00:19:09.440 And it's led me into some crazy places, you know, and I always know it's him when, when

00:19:15.880 I hear something and I'm like, Oh crap, no, I'm not that guy.

00:19:19.700 Yeah. 0.98

00:19:20.120 That's when you know, warped sense of humor.

00:19:22.120 Yeah.

00:19:22.540 Yeah.

00:19:23.180 He does.

00:19:23.860 He's up there laughing all the time.

00:19:25.020 I mean, he says, you'll figure this out eventually.

00:19:27.440 Yeah.

00:19:28.020 Uh, and, and I know what it means to me because I made a covenant with him and I take that

00:19:35.400 seriously.

00:19:36.180 You obviously take this seriously and you promised you'd serve him.

00:19:39.660 And didn't you promise him that you would pray after every game?

00:19:43.520 Yes.

00:19:43.780 I watched face it.

00:19:44.760 I got offered the job on a Friday.

00:19:47.260 I applied, went to the interview.

00:19:49.560 They offered it to me.

00:19:50.540 I said, give me the weekend to think about it because I just got out of the Marine Corps.

00:19:53.820 I had a new marriage.

00:19:55.240 I was really trying to figure out my life and, you know, you know how much coaching could

00:20:00.900 take.

00:20:01.320 It's good to be consuming.

00:20:03.460 And in the middle of the night, I was flipping through HBO, Cinemax, all the other channels.

00:20:07.800 And this movie came on facing the giants.

00:20:10.020 And once again, God put me right to my knees and I, I, I heard the answer louder than anything

00:20:16.340 in the world.

00:20:16.940 I mean, he answered and just right there on, on living room floor, I said, I'm all in.

00:20:22.940 I will give you the glory after every game, win or lose right there on the battlefield.

00:20:27.640 And that was my covenant to him.

00:20:29.640 And from the moment I started coaching to the moment I ended my coaching career for

00:20:34.700 doing the same thing, praying by myself on the 50 yard line.

00:20:38.400 So in 2008, you start this, how long before it becomes a problem?

00:20:44.660 I was in my eighth season before.

00:20:46.500 Eight years you're doing this and kids are joining you.

00:20:50.760 Yeah.

00:20:51.020 So it was on and off.

00:20:52.140 So there's the famous two helmet that the other side likes to show and say, look, he's

00:20:57.360 praying with the kids.

00:20:58.480 Yeah, I did that.

00:20:59.700 But when the school district said to stop, I absolutely did.

00:21:03.760 But it was hit and miss, you know, kids, sometimes we got our butts kicked and they

00:21:07.720 didn't want to come out and, you know, have a moment of peace.

00:21:10.980 They just wanted to lick their wounds and, you know, they needed a hug.

00:21:14.840 Or if we won really good, they wanted to go, you know, hang out with the cheerleaders and

00:21:19.360 bands and do all the selfies and all those kinds of things.

00:21:22.360 So it wasn't mandatory.

00:21:24.480 It was nothing.

00:21:25.280 It was, it was such a.

00:21:27.640 Did you ask them to join?

00:21:29.720 No.

00:21:30.320 And that's a crazy thing.

00:21:31.360 I sat there, you know, just racking my brain.

00:21:34.280 Have I even, even asked anybody to join me or have I even talked about God once to any

00:21:40.860 of my guys?

00:21:41.660 And I went through, I mean, eight years, 60 people on a team.

00:21:45.540 That's a lot of opportunities.

00:21:47.100 And I wrecked my brain.

00:21:48.100 I put it out on Facebook, I put it, it was like, have I ever done this?

00:21:51.340 Because, you know, you talk to kids so much in that time, but never once did I invite them

00:21:57.440 or any of the other coaches.

00:21:58.820 So how did they just saw you praying and they decided to come and pray?

00:22:02.500 Yeah.

00:22:02.780 Originally I had a couple of kids that approached and said, Hey coach, what, what have you been

00:22:06.700 doing out there?

00:22:07.320 This is about six months into the, into me coaching.

00:22:09.780 And they said, you know, what are you doing?

00:22:12.160 I said, well, I was just thanking God for what you guys did.

00:22:15.080 And they said, well, we're believers.

00:22:16.480 Can we join you?

00:22:18.040 Well, I was like, it's a free country.

00:22:19.720 You can do whatever you want to do.

00:22:21.520 And that's how that originally started.

00:22:24.000 Then some more kids came out and then some more.

00:22:26.020 And then I had a couple of the kids on my team that were team captains.

00:22:29.800 And they said, Hey, can we invite the other team?

00:22:32.360 I'm like, this is your team.

00:22:34.180 You're the leaders of this team.

00:22:35.340 You do what you want to do.

00:22:36.840 And they started inviting the other team.

00:22:38.360 And last year that I was in my eighth season, we had every one of the teams out there, both

00:22:44.900 coming together until the school district asked me to stop.

00:22:48.480 I have to tell you the first time I, my son plays football.

00:22:52.040 First time I went to a football game watching him and they all got on their knees and prayed.

00:22:58.040 I was just overwhelmed.

00:23:00.100 I mean, I, I, I thanked God.

00:23:02.660 I lived in Texas where, you know, you can join or not join.

00:23:07.860 It's no big deal.

00:23:10.080 I don't understand.

00:23:11.520 So then how did the, how did this all come down?

00:23:15.680 They first said, Hey coach, and they liked you, right?

00:23:19.260 Oh yeah.

00:23:19.700 Yeah.

00:23:19.940 We're still friends to this day.

00:23:21.500 The superintendent, I consider him a dear friend.

00:23:24.140 He's a great believer.

00:23:25.960 And this is people that I've worked with for almost a decade.

00:23:29.160 And it came from a compliment from one of the other school districts and said, uh, they

00:23:34.380 called the principal and said, Hey, what your football program is doing is really awesome.

00:23:38.420 So of course they had to, you know, play the telephone game.

00:23:41.820 And, you know, the principal asked the athletic director, Hey, what's Kennedy doing?

00:23:46.540 Athletic director went to the head coach.

00:23:48.600 Kennedy's getting us in trouble because of the prayer.

00:23:50.880 The principal's asking about it kind of spun all out of control in, in just one weekend.

00:23:56.860 And, and, um, and that's what it came down to was, was, uh, them doing a, you know, investigation.

00:24:04.500 But we were, we really did try to work together for a good week.

00:24:08.560 Um, at least a week we, we sat down every day.

00:24:11.660 I sat down with the superintendent, the principal, um, other members of the administration, the

00:24:17.300 school board, trying to figure out a way to exit out of this mess we were in.

00:24:22.300 Cause no, none of us wanted a fight.

00:24:24.600 Right.

00:24:24.760 And you weren't doing it to, uh, to turn everybody to Jesus.

00:24:28.700 You were doing it personally for you and your covenant.

00:24:32.420 Right.

00:24:32.620 And I thought we, that's where we, it was going to end.

00:24:35.280 Um, the, you know, my, my buddy here will tell you about, you know, the legal aspects

00:24:40.200 of it, but I thought it was going to be over in one week and it would just all blow over

00:24:44.580 because I agreed with the school district.

00:24:46.940 Hey, you don't want me praying with the kids, you know, with my team.

00:24:50.020 Fine.

00:24:50.640 I won't do it anymore because I don't want to cause any problems.

00:24:53.300 I just want to coach.

00:24:54.760 And so I thought we were in all agreement over that.

00:24:57.520 It wasn't until they started moving the goalposts on me and saying, oh, well this and that,

00:25:03.500 and then their legal counsel got involved and they said, you can't talk to us anymore.

00:25:07.820 You need to talk to the lawyers.

00:25:09.640 And I was handcuffed.

00:25:11.580 I couldn't do anything else, which really sucks when these are your friends and you can't even

00:25:16.140 talk to them.

00:25:17.760 So when did you get involved, Jeremy?

00:25:20.020 Oh, about midway through the season.

00:25:21.660 So when, when he gets the first letter and he agrees not to, to, to talk, pray with the

00:25:27.460 kids anymore and all that, then they keep on kind of making more insistent requirements

00:25:31.940 of him.

00:25:32.500 Like what?

00:25:33.220 Well, they first say, well, you know what?

00:25:35.260 It's taking you away from your job responsibilities with, after the game with the kids, you know,

00:25:39.560 so 15 seconds on a knee in silent prayer would keep him from doing his job duties after the

00:25:43.760 game.

00:25:44.000 So they suggest instead, well, rather than do that, why don't you walk across the field,

00:25:48.660 go across the track, walk up the stairs, two flights of stairs, go across the practice

00:25:52.940 field, into the school building, down the hallway, into the janitor's office, and you

00:25:56.720 can pray there instead.

00:25:57.860 Now I haven't stepped that off.

00:25:59.120 Yeah.

00:25:59.700 That was an accommodation.

00:26:00.600 That was one.

00:26:01.200 Yeah.

00:26:01.300 That would keep you from doing your job.

00:26:04.900 I mean, that would help you do your job with the kids.

00:26:07.640 No.

00:26:07.740 Yeah.

00:26:08.180 Yeah.

00:26:08.640 The alternative, by the way, and they said, well, not only would that take you away from

00:26:11.620 the job duties, but we don't want people seeing you doing this either, because that

00:26:14.660 could be coercion in and of itself, they say.

00:26:16.880 So he could do, either go into the school building and do it there, or again, walk across

00:26:20.720 the field, up the stairs, outside of the stadium, go back down the sidewalk, into a side

00:26:25.080 gate, up the stairs, across a catwalk, and into the press box.

00:26:28.680 And then he'd have to clear everybody out of the press box, because people can't be

00:26:31.040 seen, you know, couldn't see him doing this.

00:26:33.480 But then you have the other problem of these gigantic windows, and the entire school, you

00:26:38.280 know, everybody that gathered there to be able to see him doing what he's doing there

00:26:40.760 in the, in the, so this was just untenable.

00:26:42.800 This is not something that could be done.

00:26:44.040 I'd love that.

00:26:44.520 Look, this is insane.

00:26:46.600 You know what's crazy?

00:26:47.640 I was thinking about this today, getting ready for this interview, and I thought, let me

00:26:53.160 get this right.

00:26:53.900 My kindergartner, or first grader, can go into school, and the teacher can teach about

00:27:03.880 transgenderism, talk about their gay lover, or whatever they want to talk about, and I

00:27:11.740 have to accept that, but you can't pray quietly on your own. 1.00

00:27:17.840 Again, this world is, as the lunatics are running the asylum. 0.76

00:27:23.880 Oh, yeah. 0.98

00:27:24.500 Oh, yeah.

00:27:25.260 And that's precisely what this case is about, because think about both of those options that

00:27:28.400 are offered.

00:27:29.420 That's sending the message, and this is what Coach told us at the beginning.

00:27:32.800 Look, I can't accept those, number one, that's not my commitment.

00:27:35.040 My commitment was to pray by myself.

00:27:36.300 Number two, if they'd ask me to go off into the school building, or up into the press

00:27:38.980 box, well, that's kind of sending the message that prayer is something we need to keep out

00:27:42.320 of sight and hidden from view, and the First Amendment does not require us to have to go

00:27:46.900 and push ourselves off to the corners in order to practice our faith, especially if it's

00:27:50.480 just simply taking a knee, like he's tying a shoe in the middle of the field.

00:27:54.380 So that's where we got involved, and we just simply said, look, honestly, this is going

00:27:58.820 to be about a three-week project for us, but we're going to come in, okay, he stopped

00:28:02.220 praying with the kids, good, we're done.

00:28:04.240 It's 50 yards wide, the football field is, surely somewhere on that 50-yard line, over 50

00:28:08.680 yards, he can actually sit, take a knee, and sign a prayer by himself.

00:28:12.320 But the school district's attorneys just entrenched themselves, and that would not be the case,

00:28:16.980 which is kind of funny, because now they're saying that he wants to continue to pray with

00:28:21.180 the kids, and that's not the commitment he made, that's not it at all.

00:28:24.500 Yeah, they're telling me what I want to do now.

00:28:26.180 Ah, okay.

00:28:26.880 They want to know what my commitment is.

00:28:28.080 Well, they always know better than you.

00:28:29.560 Yeah, so do the judges, of course.

00:28:31.180 So, yeah, so let me ask, the lawyers, were they just doing what lawyers always do, and

00:28:38.440 that is, just don't do any, just, no, we're not doing, were they doing that to protect,

00:28:44.080 or were they furthering an agenda?

00:28:46.300 You know, I think there's two parts to that question.

00:28:48.440 Initially, I think the local attorneys there were just doing what a lot of local attorneys

00:28:52.240 across the country do, which is, uh-oh, religion's on campus again, get the Lysol out, we've got 0.68

00:28:56.920 to clear this virus on campus, and we see this all over the country.

00:29:00.840 Yeah, because nobody wants a hassle.

00:29:02.300 No, right, as soon as a teacher or even a student starts talking about religion, it's

00:29:07.040 like, this is the new pandemic, we've got to inoculate this right now before it spreads

00:29:11.300 and we go into lockdown, but that's exactly what happens all the time.

00:29:14.160 So, I think that was the initial setup.

00:29:15.940 Once we started going on appeal, they got new attorneys, these new attorneys come, I think,

00:29:19.760 with a more ideological bent, and now they start trying to change the facts from reality,

00:29:24.500 which is hard to do, because at the time this was all going down, he'd gotten an email,

00:29:28.960 for instance, from the superintendent to the top dog education guy in the state of Washington

00:29:33.280 saying, this case has changed from being about praying with the kids to a coach's right to

00:29:39.240 be able to pray by himself on any of the 50-yard line, which is exactly what his commitment

00:29:44.420 was and what we've now appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States.

00:29:47.820 Now, at the Supreme Court of the United States, they're trying to go back to saying he wants

00:29:50.860 to somehow tell the kids what to do, which is the farthest from the truth.

00:29:54.680 Again, the day that they suspended him, we actually have a question and answer that they

00:29:57.760 posted on the website, on their website, that says there is indeed no evidence of any student

00:30:03.520 being coerced to pray with Coach Kennedy.

00:30:05.520 So, you could say, let me play devil's advocate, you could say he's an authority, this is what

00:30:11.560 they do all the time, you're an authority figure.

00:30:14.620 And so, just your mere doing it, and if somebody joins, maybe they get special favors, or it

00:30:23.080 might appear that you might become the coach's favorite, yada, yada, yada.

00:30:28.060 It's the power dynamic, correct, that they always shovel.

00:30:30.880 But wait a minute, isn't that the argument that if it works there, it should work on

00:30:39.720 every topic in school, should it not?

00:30:43.000 I mean, look, the First Amendment allows us to go to school and still be a person of faith.

00:30:47.480 You don't have to, the Supreme Court said that back in the 1960s, right, in Tinker v.

00:30:50.700 Des Moines, that neither students nor teachers shed their constitutional rights when they

00:30:54.080 walked through the schoolhouse gates.

00:30:55.700 That's all he's ever been asking for.

00:30:57.600 But that's precisely the argument that not only the school district has adopted, but also

00:31:01.160 the Ninth Circuit has adopted here.

00:31:02.780 And this is especially dangerous.

00:31:04.680 And it came down, and this is why they suspended him in the first place, is that because he

00:31:09.020 is dressed like he's dressed right now, with a Knights t-shirt or a polo shirt on, he's

00:31:13.260 kind of garbed in the school district's authority, because the students can see you.

00:31:17.740 When I look at you in that Nike shirt, I think, authority, that's the man, right there.

00:31:23.260 Especially when I buy all of this myself, you know.

00:31:26.280 Right.

00:31:26.520 But because the students can see you, just seeing you engaged in a private act of silent

00:31:32.580 prayer is enough to coerce them into some sort of religion, and their minds violate the

00:31:38.000 Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

00:31:39.260 I just, I hate to keep bringing this, but I cannot take the hypocrisy.

00:31:43.660 I just read a story of a kindergarten teacher who is a man, married to a man, and is very offended 0.59

00:31:52.580 at the don't say gay thing, which doesn't say that at all.

00:31:56.200 He, his example was, how am I supposed to explain the picture of my husband and I on my desk?

00:32:04.060 Well, wouldn't that apply?

00:32:06.020 If you're going to use those rules, wouldn't that apply?

00:32:09.240 Just the very presence of them seeing two men together on his desk, isn't that coercion then?

00:32:17.020 But let's go back to something that is even more connected to the football field, Colin Kaepernick, right?

00:32:20.800 Taking a knee in protest of the National Anthem.

00:32:23.060 There was a football team literally down the road from Bremerton High School whose coaches,

00:32:27.880 with the entire team, would kneel in protest of the National Anthem right while his case is going up.

00:32:33.920 Those coaches, to my knowledge, remain employed today.

00:32:36.860 Now, they filed a brief in support of Coach Kennedy when he went up to the Ninth Circuit saying,

00:32:40.880 look, we don't necessarily agree with this whole prayer thing,

00:32:43.900 but we want the right to be able to take a knee in protest of the National Anthem with our players.

00:32:49.620 And so the double standard on the First Amendment is just openly on display when you can say,

00:32:54.960 look, you can take a knee in protest of the National Anthem.

00:32:57.440 That doesn't violate the First Amendment.

00:32:59.380 But dare to spend too much time on one knee, and you could be perceived as engaged in prayer.

00:33:04.340 Well, that's enough for us to be able to suspend and then later terminate you from this as well.

00:33:07.780 And the ramifications of this are enormous.

00:33:12.080 Did you think about disguising your prayer by taking a knee at the beginning of the game during the National Anthem?

00:33:19.240 Because then they would have run for the hills.

00:33:21.220 They would have, you'd be, they'd throw you a parade.

00:33:24.600 All right.

00:33:25.160 Is it true that, I think it was the Ninth Court of Appeals,

00:33:28.920 is it true that one of the judges actually said you're a bad Christian because you should be praying in the closet?

00:33:35.520 Oh, yeah, my buddy.

00:33:36.320 Yeah.

00:33:36.500 Yeah, no, it was an interesting, so the entire opinion, the first half of the opinion is all,

00:33:40.480 you know, he violated the free exercise, or the establishment clause.

00:33:43.180 So he's violated one of the religion clauses, and then he wanted to have all the press look at him.

00:33:46.460 How do these people become judges if they don't understand that clause?

00:33:52.140 Talk to President Obama about that one.

00:33:53.660 Or the facts of the case.

00:33:54.660 Yeah.

00:33:55.180 Right.

00:33:55.400 So he's talking about the case, and so he shouldn't have been doing that,

00:33:58.560 so he can't use the free speech clause.

00:34:00.180 And he's talking to members of the media, so, you know, he's violating the freedom of the press clause as well.

00:34:04.400 So it's the First Amendment trifecta that's going on.

00:34:05.420 I'm a bad guy for talking to you right now.

00:34:07.240 So he's a bad citizen.

00:34:09.040 Just for those who may not have, and I don't say this with any malice or mocking tone,

00:34:18.040 for those who don't understand the First Amendment, can you just explain what they wrote and why the freedom of religion is,

00:34:28.520 and freedom of speech is there?

00:34:30.920 Yeah, look, that's there to make sure that we do not have to hide who we are when we go out into public life and all aspects of who, into our lives.

00:34:38.620 Those natural rights, those rights that were given to us by God, the Declaration of Independence tells us about, right?

00:34:43.520 These are the ones that the government is charged with protecting and preserving, not censoring.

00:34:49.300 And there is a certain philosophy that says that they have to go out and censor these things because God didn't give them.

00:34:53.400 No, that's not right.

00:34:54.380 The First Amendment clearly makes the case that all these rights were given to us by God.

00:34:58.420 If they're given to us by man, then they can be taken away.

00:35:00.660 Correct.

00:35:00.980 So we don't want that to be the case.

00:35:02.340 So the free speech clause is there to say, no, I disagree with President so-and-so or Senator so-and-so,

00:35:08.000 and you're right to be able to say that.

00:35:09.740 In your eras of history before, you'd lose your head for saying such things.

00:35:14.720 The same thing when it comes to religion.

00:35:16.720 The design of the free exercise clause and the establishment clause was to say,

00:35:21.360 you can worship and act according to the faith and the conscience that drives it,

00:35:26.620 and the government can't tell you how to do that.

00:35:28.780 So that's the two sides of that.

00:35:29.900 You're free to do it, and the government can't tell you what you must believe.

00:35:33.760 And when it says that they will not establish religion, meaning they came from the system where the king was the pope.

00:35:44.380 He ran the Church of England.

00:35:45.940 And you go to the king's church on these things.

00:35:48.540 Right, and if you didn't, you couldn't serve in the government.

00:35:52.180 So they were saying government cannot make an established religion.

00:35:57.560 They can't say this religion, and if you want to be mayor, you better go to this church. 0.96

00:36:03.300 Oh, no, that's what the judge said to me.

00:36:04.920 Yeah, that gets us right at the judge there.

00:36:06.500 So at the first half of the opinion, you've violated the free speech clause, the press clause, the establishment clause.

00:36:12.040 The last paragraph of the opinion goes in to say, look, as I read the Bible, this is the judge now.

00:36:16.220 This is a federal circuit court judge saying this now.

00:36:19.380 As I read the Bible, it tells me that I'm supposed to go into my closet and pray,

00:36:22.920 and I'm not supposed to do that in front of everybody else. 0.58

00:36:24.840 And so on top of being a bad citizen, coach is also a bad Christian. 0.91

00:36:29.580 I knew that.

00:36:31.220 Can I tell you?

00:36:33.360 If the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals would ever rule in my favor, if I was in front of them,

00:36:38.860 I would question everything I know.

00:36:41.060 I'd be like, I'm on the wrong side.

00:36:43.360 They agree with me.

00:36:45.180 Okay, so where is this left now?

00:36:49.260 So now the Ninth Circuit has ruled against him several times, as a matter of fact.

00:36:52.540 We're now before the Supreme Court of the United States, and on April 25th of this year, he'll have his arguments there.

00:36:58.660 And the goal in this case, as it has been from the very beginning, is really just two things.

00:37:03.460 Make him a football coach again and let him pray after the game by himself.

00:37:06.800 That's it.

00:37:07.240 That's all we've asked for in our complaint.

00:37:08.600 That's what we're asking the Supreme Court to do here.

00:37:10.640 Now, we're not unaware that there's greater ramifications here.

00:37:13.720 If the Ninth Circuit's decision is allowed to stand, the ramifications are enormous.

00:37:18.160 Enormous.

00:37:18.840 Because if he can be fired for a silent prayer for 15 to 30 seconds because kids can see him,

00:37:24.460 well then, what happens when the teacher prays over her lunch in the cafeteria and students can see her praying for her salad?

00:37:30.960 Or what happens if the teacher wears a crucifix around his neck, or a yarmulke on his head, or a hijab around their head as well?

00:37:37.340 All those are what the school district called demonstrative religious activity, and that's sufficient for you to be terminated.

00:37:43.480 If you really want to get silly about it, what happens if a student sneezes and a teacher says, God bless you?

00:37:48.700 Well, that's a demonstrative act of religious activity.

00:37:51.420 That could be sufficient for you to lose your job.

00:37:54.500 No one should have to choose between their faith and their livelihood. 0.66

00:37:57.280 You know, I love the fact that he said, if you really want to get silly, are you kidding me?

00:38:02.040 Men can have periods. 0.99

00:38:04.100 We're way beyond silly. 0.88

00:38:06.180 Any of that stuff could happen.

00:38:08.540 Which means, not just for school, but how else does this affect the general?

00:38:13.680 The media context would definitely be public school teachers and coaches.

00:38:17.580 You know attorneys, though, and activists.

00:38:22.040 Where does this go?

00:38:23.380 No, look, I think that's exactly right, that any public sector employee is standing to lose their job when it comes to religion.

00:38:30.800 Look, I think groups like the National Education Association, for instance, they know that.

00:38:34.460 They filed a brief against Coach Kennedy in this case, but even in their own brief, they say, look, you're probably going to rule against the school district in this case anyway, so let's do some correction of things.

00:38:43.500 Because where we want his right to be able to freely exercise his faith, they want the right for teachers to be able to talk about CRT and other woke issues in the classroom.

00:38:51.680 It's the same amendment that allows people to be able to have those discussions and have the truth come to the top of things, not putting the censor bar down on everybody.

00:38:59.660 So, I don't even know if you can talk about this.

00:39:04.640 What are you hoping for with the Supreme Court?

00:39:08.460 Who do you think is on your side and not on your side, and what's the appeal?

00:39:13.300 How are you tailoring it for the Supreme Court?

00:39:14.980 Well, our biggest hope is just that Coach Kennedy becomes a coach again and is able to pray after the game.

00:39:20.500 Do you want to go back to Bremerton?

00:39:22.360 Oh, absolutely.

00:39:23.700 I'm a man of principle, I guess, and that's my hometown.

00:39:27.300 My kids, they live right by the school.

00:39:30.040 All my family's there, all my friends.

00:39:32.040 You live in Florida now.

00:39:33.420 I'm currently down in Florida.

00:39:34.700 And why did you move away?

00:39:36.480 My wife's dad, he's having some issues.

00:39:40.960 Okay, okay.

00:39:42.020 All right.

00:39:42.580 So, I kind of understand.

00:39:44.560 It's a beautiful part of the country.

00:39:46.660 Just the people have gone insane.

00:39:48.160 I think they're waterlogged.

00:39:49.440 I think that's what it is.

00:39:50.280 Well, you heard his story, and he had a rough growing...

00:39:53.960 Like, the first 18 years of his life is just feet wanting to get out of Bremerton.

00:39:58.000 And, I mean, lies, steals, cheats, all the way through the entire process.

00:40:01.060 Sorry, Joe, but, I mean, that's kind of what the life was like, right?

00:40:03.820 It was rough, and he wanted to get out.

00:40:05.460 You've already been called a bad Christian by the Ninth Circuit Court.

00:40:08.920 Might as well have my lawyer say it, too.

00:40:10.480 So, he wants to get out of Bremerton.

00:40:12.180 He goes and serves in the Marine Corps, protects our freedoms there, comes back, meets Jesus, life changes.

00:40:17.920 Now, you know what?

00:40:18.760 I've done all the bad things.

00:40:20.120 I need to give back to this community.

00:40:22.060 And so, his coaching time was really that chance to go back and say, you know what?

00:40:25.240 Let me undo a lot of the wrongs I did here.

00:40:27.700 And on top of all that, he's not the X's and O's coach.

00:40:30.380 He's the coach that comes and, you know, picks a kid's head up when he's had a bad play.

00:40:34.260 Or maybe talks him down when he's getting a little too ahead of himself.

00:40:37.480 And the kids that are, you know, needing food after the game, he takes to get a meal.

00:40:41.520 Kids that need cleats because they can't afford them.

00:40:43.280 Or a place to sleep because they're homeless.

00:40:45.220 That was his job.

00:40:46.200 And that's what he did.

00:40:47.500 And anything that they think they've done wrong, well, he's already done it.

00:40:51.600 And so, they're able to relate to him in that way.

00:40:53.480 So, that's the frightening thing about these kinds.

00:40:57.060 We're going to drive good people like Joe Kennedy all across the nation out of teaching jobs, out of coaching jobs.

00:41:02.920 I think that's an intent myself.

00:41:04.980 I think the intent is to get rid of people like you, I think. 0.97

00:41:09.360 Oh, it'd be a lot easier.

00:41:10.200 Yeah, but I will tell you that my son didn't know a thing about football at all.

00:41:18.940 And he goes to the coach and he's like, I want to try out for the football team.

00:41:22.620 And so, he goes and runs a couple of plays, which he didn't even understand what that meant.

00:41:28.100 Completely could not throw, could not catch.

00:41:30.840 This is in high school in Texas.

00:41:32.600 And coach blows a whistle, calls him in and said, have you ever seen this game played before?

00:41:41.000 And he said, I tell you what, you just keep coming to practice.

00:41:46.060 I don't know if you'll ever play.

00:41:47.520 And he applied himself and the coach would actually coach him, listen to him.

00:41:56.060 It changed my son's life.

00:41:58.340 It really changed my son's life.

00:42:00.840 A good coach can change people.

00:42:04.820 Tony Dungy this week just got in trouble because he's awesome because of what he said.

00:42:11.880 You know, I understood that after I joined, I had a good dad.

00:42:15.480 And then I saw all these players come up and they didn't.

00:42:18.380 And they just need that kind of, he got in trouble for that.

00:42:22.140 I mean, what are you going to have?

00:42:23.460 An algorithm?

00:42:24.560 Be the coach eventually?

00:42:26.420 I guess they just want X's and O's and don't worry about the people actually doing them.

00:42:32.140 It's been fun to see the support that he has received.

00:42:34.460 I mean, you've got guys like Nick Foles and Daryl Green, the ageless wonder from our growing up years.

00:42:41.060 And Bobby Bowden and Tommy Bowden and all these other new holes.

00:42:44.040 I'm assuming these are football people.

00:42:46.060 My son didn't know how to, had never seen the game.

00:42:47.960 Steve Largent.

00:42:48.900 Steve Largent.

00:42:49.480 There we go.

00:42:50.300 Yeah, there you go.

00:42:51.180 Chad Henney's like all these football greats.

00:42:52.780 They've all come out and filed legal briefs in support of Coach Kennedy saying all the same thing.

00:42:57.080 Look, coaches play an enormously important role in everybody's lives.

00:43:02.640 And what they bring to the field is what they bring to the field.

00:43:04.620 Don't censor them because they simply have this private moment of prayer by themselves on the field.

00:43:09.980 I have to tell you, if my son, if my son's coach, I don't even know if, you know, what religion my coach, you know, for my son is.

00:43:17.960 If he was a Muslim and he got down and he said a prayer, I don't care. 1.00

00:43:22.400 I don't care.

00:43:22.940 I'd love to have my son see somebody humbled, especially after a winning game, humbled and thanking God.

00:43:30.820 That, that to me is worth the price of admission.

00:43:34.560 I don't care what religion, I mean, I mean, if you're the, you know, a devil worshiper, you know, maybe I don't really want that around my kids.

00:43:42.580 But other than that, I don't understand the problem other than they can't control it.

00:43:50.400 I think that's what it boils down to.

00:43:52.400 I mean, welcome to America.

00:43:54.740 Yeah, the coach tells a great story.

00:43:56.100 I actually have one of his assistant coaches on the team that was Buddhist and after he was suspended from the game and he, you tell coach.

00:44:02.460 Oh, yeah.

00:44:03.120 So it was when I was out in the stands and it was when they locked down the field, they put up all the, the signs do not approach the field.

00:44:11.600 They had cops on the field and standing behind me to make sure I didn't go rushing out to the 50 yard line. 0.91

00:44:16.740 It was comical.

00:44:17.640 Well, I'd always do selfies with, with the cops and stuff and hey, these are my personal security guys.

00:44:23.260 But, and it was just so cool to see my buddy go out there and he went up to the athletic director, talked to him and walked out to the middle of the field, took a look at the, the 50 yard line.

00:44:35.980 And he did his little, little, uh, he's a practicing Buddhist.

00:44:39.620 He just did his little chant, his moment of reflection or whatever he does.

00:44:43.120 And I really wanted to take a picture of it, but I was like, that is exactly what America is about.

00:44:48.640 And that's why I'm still fighting is because of that.

00:44:51.520 It was such a perfect moment to see somebody exercising their freedom right there, even though I was not allowed to.

00:45:00.940 So when will we know?

00:45:02.060 Well, we should know by the end of June this year, whether or not coach will be a football coach again and able to go to the knee by himself in prayer after the games.

00:45:09.980 I, I, I think we're going to have some very interesting discussions at the Supreme court because the facts as are, they are in reality versus what the lawyers have now made them to be on the other side.

00:45:19.860 I think the justices are going to ask a lot of very penetrating questions on that point to get down to the marrow of the issue.

00:45:24.900 Isn't that, can't, can't you be disbarred for doing things like that?

00:45:30.680 Well, I mean, that's not for me to say, but I mean, if, if, if I'm present, I'm an attorney and I'm presenting to any judge facts that are not right.

00:45:41.620 I mean, you know, I know there's fudge factor of dressing, you know, things up, but if I'm presenting something that is not right and it's verifiably not right.

00:45:50.620 Well, there's an old saying in the law that says, if your case is strong in the law, pound the law, the strong, if it's strong in the facts, pound the facts.

00:45:57.980 If it's strong in neither, then just pound the table.

00:46:00.420 And I see the other side here very much just simply pounding the table because they know they lose on the law.

00:46:05.040 They know that they would lose on the facts in reality.

00:46:07.020 So they have to distract from both of those things and just simply pound the table until they get the justice that they think they deserve.

00:46:12.820 We are, we're in a new era.

00:46:16.460 I mean, I don't, I mean, I've said for years, what is up is going to be down.

00:46:22.320 Everything you thought was solid will be liquid and it will be inside out.

00:46:27.460 We are absolutely there.

00:46:30.520 However, recently the Supreme Court has been good for religious liberty, hasn't it? 0.62

00:46:36.520 It has.

00:46:36.960 Yes, very much so.

00:46:37.760 Has anything changed besides this new justice that doesn't know what a woman is? 0.76

00:46:43.280 Well, she won't be on the bench when he has the argument here.

00:46:46.680 But look, I think when we went there a couple of years ago, the first time we appealed to the Supreme Court and they sent it back down because they needed a few more pieces of clarification that we were able to get through discovery and only to our benefit at that point.

00:46:58.660 The justices at that point, at least four of them said, this looks to be very egregious and a very terrible deprival of his rights under the Constitution.

00:47:06.740 If the facts stand up to be what we think they are, then we're going to have a lot of words to say.

00:47:11.620 That court from then till now has only shifted to the right.

00:47:15.740 So I don't, I think we've got solid four votes then.

00:47:19.220 We've certainly got, I think, five right now.

00:47:21.220 But you know what? 0.78

00:47:22.160 It's a fool's errand to handicap the Supreme Court.

00:47:23.900 So we shall see what they do with this case in a couple weeks.

00:47:26.920 Well, we'd love to have you on once you get the verdict.

00:47:30.620 We'll do it.

00:47:31.040 To know.

00:47:31.880 We'll pray for you.

00:47:32.740 We'll have to have you back out to the left coast and maybe have you at a football game.

00:47:39.560 Last time I went to Seattle, it took almost a SWAT team to escort me through.

00:47:46.700 Well, good thing I got the qualifications.

00:47:48.660 That's right.

00:47:49.340 That's right.

00:47:50.240 God bless you.

00:47:51.040 Thank you so much for everything you do.

00:47:52.720 You're awesome.

00:47:53.200 Thank you, as always.

00:47:54.020 Just a reminder, I'd love you to rate and subscribe to the podcast and pass this on to a friend

00:48:05.280 so it can be discovered by other people.

00:48:06.900 We'll see you next time.

00:48:08.280 I'll see you next time.

00:48:19.360 Bye.

00:48:20.160 Bye.

00:48:20.860 Bye.

00:48:21.560 Bye.

00:48:22.720 Bye.

00:48:23.300 Bye.

00:48:23.600 Bye.

00:48:23.760 Bye.

00:48:24.120 Bye.

00:48:24.180 Bye.

00:48:24.240 Bye.

00:48:24.420 Bye.

00:48:24.680 Bye.

00:48:24.960 Bye.

00:48:25.180 Bye.

00:48:25.760 Bye.

00:48:26.120 Bye.

00:48:27.100 Bye.

00:48:27.180 Bye.

00:48:27.220 Bye.

00:48:27.500 Bye.

00:48:28.820 Bye.

00:48:31.240 Bye.

00:48:32.440 Bye.

00:48:34.880 Bye.

00:48:35.140 Bye.

The Glenn Beck Program - April 16, 2022

Ep 142 ｜ This SCOTUS Case Will Decide if America Is Still a Free Country ｜ Coach Joe Kennedy ｜ The Glenn Beck Podcast

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript