Ep 142 ｜ This SCOTUS Case Will Decide if America Is Still a Free Country ｜ Coach Joe Kennedy ｜ The Glenn Beck Podcast
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Summary
Former NFL Coach Joe Kennedy believes strongly in the power of prayer, and as a football coach, he had a ritual of praying after games. But when he started a new tradition, players started to join him in a silent prayer on the 50-yard line, leading to a lawsuit from the school district. Now, the Supreme Court is hearing the case.
Transcript
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Prayer works. I want to say this scientifically. Literally, prayer works.
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Even for non-believers, it reduces stress, increases optimism, enhances self-esteem.
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It actually regulates heartbeats. It's been this way since the foundation of the world.
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Now, for believers, it's much more than that. It's dialogue with our God.
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It's our meditation. It's our surrender to the power that guides us and watches over us.
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If it's done correctly, it humbles us. It's our connection to revelation and tranquility.
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We know that prayer can save us, protect our loved ones, our leaders, our nation.
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And that's why believers do it. So that kind of covers everybody, really.
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Today, our guest believes strongly in the power of prayer.
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And as a football coach, he had a ritual of praying after games.
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You'll hear why. Players then started to join him, kneeling in on the 50-yard line.
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He wasn't praying over the loudspeaker and demanding people to join.
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He was praying quietly. And anyone who wanted to join him was welcome to.
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He didn't invite them. They asked if they could join.
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The school board said he had violated school policy on religious-related activities and practices.
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But even the local school and school board were reasonable about things.
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He complied for a minute, not for long, because then the attorneys got involved.
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He went back to praying publicly, and it cost him his job.
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But before he was a coach, he served 20 years in the Marine Corps, defending the rights and freedoms.
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Kind of their thing. Kind of what he did for 20 years.
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In the end, he decided to sue the school and stand up for the First Amendment.
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The Supreme Court is expected to hear this case in just a few weeks.
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Why is anyone threatened by someone offering a silent prayer?
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And is there still room for God in this country?
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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?
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Don't answer that. Let's see how the Supreme Court answers that.
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Today on the Glenn Beck Podcast, Coach Joe Kennedy.
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If you're somebody who is in pain a lot, may I suggest there is some hope.
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You know, I was on the Grin Iron for so many years when I was younger.
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And man, oh man, the pain in my knees and everything else.
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Actually, I did none of those things and I was still in pain.
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Relief Factor attacks inflammation, which is the major source of our pain, in four different ways.
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70% of the people who try it go on to order more.
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I'm excited to, I'm actually, I read this case that you're involved in is so important,
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important, and excuse the pun, but game-changing, I think, if you, if you win, and especially
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But I, I've done some research on your life story and you have a fascinating life story.
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Can you just like literally start at the beginning?
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It's funny, I was sitting out on the bench, you got out there for Forrest Gump, and I
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Yeah, it's life's like a bowl of box of chocolates.
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It started out, I was adopted, and my parents, they couldn't have kids.
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They, they were just, we're a good Catholic family, and you know, you've got to have a
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And they couldn't have them, and they adopted a girl.
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About a year later, they adopted me, and a few years later, through nature, or through
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science, or by the nature of God, they started having kids, and they started popping them
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And after five kids, they really didn't need my sister and I anymore.
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So we sat down, when I was about seven, you know, I figure I was just a happy, rambunctious
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And then they told us that we were adopted, and it kind of drove a wedge right there, and
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I became one of those really angry kids, and over the next couple years, I completely
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Okay, so wait, why did they tell you you were adopted?
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Yeah, the worst thing they ever did was the day they adopted me, and stuff like that.
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But to their defense, I was a terrible, terrible kid, right?
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I was a kid that you would not want your kids around anywhere.
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Between both of those, I went and stayed at a bunch of different places.
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To the grace of God, I had some neighbors next door that I still call my parents, and
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they're the ones that basically raised me, kept the camper open, so I had a place to sleep
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But you technically, you were still, you still had the foster, I mean, the actual adoptive
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They were still, yeah, they were still around, but I didn't want to have anything to do with
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them, and they didn't want to have anything to do with me.
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They actually moved away while I was gone at one of the foster homes, and I didn't even
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And so then, there's one point in your life where you go fishing up at Mount Rainier, and
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you say it was the best day, maybe my research is wrong, best day of your life, just you
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So, out of the blue, he said, hey, let's go on a vacation.
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And I, you know, I'm like, okay, what's the catch here?
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I was probably, probably 11 or 12, somewhere right in there.
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And this is the first time him and I have really done anything together.
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It's, I mean, just one-on-one, because he was always busy with his kids.
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And so, we went up there, and we went fishing, had a great weekend.
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It was one of those bonding things you always dream about, you know, the dad and son, you
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And, man, I was just, I was like, man, this is just, it's changed my life completely.
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And I got back to the house, and he said, just stay in the car for a minute.
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Comes over and puts a bunch of stuff in the trunk and gets in the car, and I'm like, what's
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And he said, well, the reason why I took you up there is because we needed to pack up
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the house and get you sent to this boy's home over in Eastern Washington.
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And then it was a dead, quiet silence of just loathing the whole time there.
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So, ended up at a, it was a Christian boy's home, and they were awesome.
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There were some guys that were really manly men, you know, that didn't have a problem picking
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me up by the neck and putting me through a wall when I needed it.
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But there was also the guys that really sewed, you know, good words into you.
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And they taught me about what it means to be a follower.
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And I, of course, I rebelled for months and months, and it was kind of a challenge.
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So, I tried out the God thing, and when I was there, it fit me like a great suit.
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When God works in your life, it was just really great.
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And we had devotions and, you know, prayer time and scripture readings and everything.
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So, it was, when you're surrounded by it, it's easy to do.
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As soon as I left the boys' home, I, of course, went right back to my default and became that
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And my life just kind of spiraled out of control until I joined the Marine Corps.
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And the Marine Corps will beat that out of you.
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Yeah, it's amazing some of the things that I need.
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You know, some of the kids I coached, you know, they needed a firm, you know, grasp
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by the helmet every once in a while, and some of them just needed a hug.
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And I was able to get a lot of my training for being a coach from the boys' home and
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He had pretty much the same experience that you had, except he was never adopted.
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And he was, I think, 12 or 13 and on his own, you know, rented a place.
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I don't even know how, but got a job, rented a place.
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You just, you know, you get to know some of the not-so-savory people in town, and they
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And I had no electricity, but I had a roof over my head.
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Uh, I don't know if I should really go into a lot of that, but I did have a job part-time.
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I did all the things that you shouldn't do to her mind.
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Uh, and then, uh, when did you, you went to the Marine Corps, you were in Desert Storm.
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Started out from a diesel mechanic, and I had a knack for training.
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So I became everything there is to train, uh, the martial arts program, swim instructor,
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rifle range, uh, anything I could possibly do for excitement.
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I, I was that, and I ended up being the senior enlisted for a reserve unit, uh, out of Portland,
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Uh, well, I proposed to my wife when we were nine, and, uh, she told me I was creepy, so
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Because it would have been creepy if she were nine, and you were, let's say, 20.
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Yeah, but we're both nine years old, and I, I proposed to her, and she said I was creepy,
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and went in the house, and from that moment on, my brother and I fought.
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I got endlessly over who was going to marry Denise, and I whooped his butt that day, and,
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I, I won 31 years later, when I was about to get out of the Marine Corps, I reconnected
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with her, and it was like the first day I saw, and it, that was it.
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But if she would have listened, we could have been married for, what, you know, 40-something
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Uh, so, so when you got married, because if I understand you right, you're not, you
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are a, a religious man, you deeply believe, but you're not like a Bible quoter kind of
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Yeah, I, I couldn't tell you, you know, I, I know there's a couple verses, you know, like
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I, I probably have a lot of references that sound biblical, so I kind of roll with those
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My biggest thing is trying to love God and love others, and I suck at that, and I spend
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half my time thanking God for what he's given me, and the other half the time asking him for
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Yeah, she, she would be somebody I would consider religious.
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She was, grew up in the church, uh, she had a really rough childhood, um, real rough.
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Rough marriage, and very abusive background, and she really attached herself to God, and
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it got her through all of those, you know, hard times in her life, and that's how I ended
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up going, is she kept asking me every Sunday, just once, hey, want to go to church?
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And of course, I was too busy, I wanted to watch football, work in my car, anything.
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Well, then my son said, well, if he doesn't have to go, do I have to go?
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I asked my current wife to, uh, marry me, uh, and she said no, and I said why, and she
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said because we don't have a faith that we share, and, uh, I said, oh, church doesn't
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I've been watching HBO all morning, and I'm good, and you come over pissed because somebody
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I mean, it's, I don't know if we could make it without God.
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There's too many things that happen along the way that if you don't have an understanding
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of something bigger that holds you together, I don't, I don't know if you can make it.
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Yeah, that's actually how, um, we made it, uh, because the first, uh, couple of years
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we were, we were married, it was, it was really tough because, you know, all the abuse she
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And I mean, to the point where she was in a woman's shelter to hide from her ex-husband.
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And so she had a lot of barriers up and a lot of defenses, and I didn't know how to
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And it finally came to the point where, uh, you know, I'm sitting in church, you know,
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Yeah, I'm not doing anything, being defiant as always.
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And I mean, I, I couldn't break through and it was wearing on both of us.
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And finally I broke down and, and right there in church, I ran up to the, to the altar thing
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they have and way off to the side, cause I don't want to be front center.
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And I just fell down and I, I, I cried out to God, Hey, you got to help me with this.
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And if you help me with my marriage, I will give my life to you for, for the rest of my
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And my wife came up and saw that and it broke down every barrier she had.
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And we just sobbed together right there in front of the whole church, which was now I
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think kind of embarrassing, but at the time I didn't know I was the only person.
00:16:02.900
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00:16:08.120
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00:17:01.840
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00:17:20.220
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00:17:22.920
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00:17:31.260
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00:17:35.740
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00:17:40.400
So I guess maybe we should bring your, uh, your counselor in, uh, your attorney at this
00:17:49.760
Uh, he is from, uh, uh, first Liberty Institute been on the program several times.
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What you guys do at first Liberty is remarkable.
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Um, it's weird that you are this guy who you're not, you know, a Bible thumper.
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Um, you don't necessarily seem to be the guy who's like, Hey, I want to be out in front.
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Um, and, uh, you're not, uh, you don't strike me as the guy who's just trying to rope everybody
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I'm just an average schmuck who just wanted to coach football.
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So you're coaching football, um, in Bremerton, right?
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I mean, I grew up, but I grew up in the Pacific Northwest.
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Uh, but I just don't think I could live there with the craziness now.
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I screwed the first part of my life up like crazy and completely surrendered to the Lord.
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And it's led me into some crazy places, you know, and I always know it's him when, when
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I hear something and I'm like, Oh crap, no, I'm not that guy.
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I mean, he says, you'll figure this out eventually.
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Uh, and, and I know what it means to me because I made a covenant with him and I take that
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You obviously take this seriously and you promised you'd serve him.
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And didn't you promise him that you would pray after every game?
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I said, give me the weekend to think about it because I just got out of the Marine Corps.
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I was really trying to figure out my life and, you know, you know how much coaching could
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And in the middle of the night, I was flipping through HBO, Cinemax, all the other channels.
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And once again, God put me right to my knees and I, I, I heard the answer louder than anything
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I mean, he answered and just right there on, on living room floor, I said, I'm all in.
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I will give you the glory after every game, win or lose right there on the battlefield.
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And from the moment I started coaching to the moment I ended my coaching career for
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doing the same thing, praying by myself on the 50 yard line.
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So in 2008, you start this, how long before it becomes a problem?
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Eight years you're doing this and kids are joining you.
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So there's the famous two helmet that the other side likes to show and say, look, he's
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But when the school district said to stop, I absolutely did.
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But it was hit and miss, you know, kids, sometimes we got our butts kicked and they
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didn't want to come out and, you know, have a moment of peace.
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They just wanted to lick their wounds and, you know, they needed a hug.
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Or if we won really good, they wanted to go, you know, hang out with the cheerleaders and
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bands and do all the selfies and all those kinds of things.
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Have I even, even asked anybody to join me or have I even talked about God once to any
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And I went through, I mean, eight years, 60 people on a team.
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I put it out on Facebook, I put it, it was like, have I ever done this?
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Because, you know, you talk to kids so much in that time, but never once did I invite them
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So how did they just saw you praying and they decided to come and pray?
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Originally I had a couple of kids that approached and said, Hey coach, what, what have you been
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This is about six months into the, into me coaching.
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I said, well, I was just thanking God for what you guys did.
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Then some more kids came out and then some more.
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And then I had a couple of the kids on my team that were team captains.
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And they said, Hey, can we invite the other team?
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And last year that I was in my eighth season, we had every one of the teams out there, both
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coming together until the school district asked me to stop.
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I have to tell you the first time I, my son plays football.
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First time I went to a football game watching him and they all got on their knees and prayed.
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I lived in Texas where, you know, you can join or not join.
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So then how did the, how did this all come down?
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They first said, Hey coach, and they liked you, right?
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The superintendent, I consider him a dear friend.
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And this is people that I've worked with for almost a decade.
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And it came from a compliment from one of the other school districts and said, uh, they
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called the principal and said, Hey, what your football program is doing is really awesome.
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So of course they had to, you know, play the telephone game.
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And, you know, the principal asked the athletic director, Hey, what's Kennedy doing?
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Kennedy's getting us in trouble because of the prayer.
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The principal's asking about it kind of spun all out of control in, in just one weekend.
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And, and, um, and that's what it came down to was, was, uh, them doing a, you know, investigation.
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But we were, we really did try to work together for a good week.
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I sat down with the superintendent, the principal, um, other members of the administration, the
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school board, trying to figure out a way to exit out of this mess we were in.
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And you weren't doing it to, uh, to turn everybody to Jesus.
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You were doing it personally for you and your covenant.
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And I thought we, that's where we, it was going to end.
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Um, the, you know, my, my buddy here will tell you about, you know, the legal aspects
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of it, but I thought it was going to be over in one week and it would just all blow over
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Hey, you don't want me praying with the kids, you know, with my team.
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I won't do it anymore because I don't want to cause any problems.
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And so I thought we were in all agreement over that.
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It wasn't until they started moving the goalposts on me and saying, oh, well this and that,
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and then their legal counsel got involved and they said, you can't talk to us anymore.
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I couldn't do anything else, which really sucks when these are your friends and you can't even
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So when, when he gets the first letter and he agrees not to, to, to talk, pray with the
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kids anymore and all that, then they keep on kind of making more insistent requirements
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It's taking you away from your job responsibilities with, after the game with the kids, you know,
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so 15 seconds on a knee in silent prayer would keep him from doing his job duties after the
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So they suggest instead, well, rather than do that, why don't you walk across the field,
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go across the track, walk up the stairs, two flights of stairs, go across the practice
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field, into the school building, down the hallway, into the janitor's office, and you
00:26:04.900
I mean, that would help you do your job with the kids.
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The alternative, by the way, and they said, well, not only would that take you away from
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the job duties, but we don't want people seeing you doing this either, because that
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
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gate, up the stairs, across a catwalk, and into the press box.
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And then he'd have to clear everybody out of the press box, because people can't be
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
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I was thinking about this today, getting ready for this interview, and I thought, let me
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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
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have to accept that, but you can't pray quietly on your own.
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Again, this world is, as the lunatics are running the asylum.
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And that's precisely what this case is about, because think about both of those options that
00:27:29.420
That's sending the message, and this is what Coach told us at the beginning.
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Look, I can't accept those, number one, that's not my commitment.
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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
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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
00:28:04.240
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.
00:28:31.180
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,
00:28:46.300
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
00:28:56.920
to clear this virus on campus, and we see this all over the country.
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.
00:29:15.940
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
00:30:05.520
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
00:30:43.000
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
00:30:57.600
But that's precisely the argument that not only the school district has adopted, but also
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.
00:31:26.520
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
00:31:39.260
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
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?
00:32:06.020
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.
00:32:59.380
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.
00:33:12.080
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.
00:33:25.160
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?
00:33:36.500
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?
00:33:55.400
So he's talking about the case, and so he shouldn't have been doing that,
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.
00:34:09.040
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,
00:34:30.920
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.
00:34:54.380
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.
00:35:02.340
So the free speech clause is there to say, no, I disagree with President so-and-so or Senator so-and-so,
00:35:09.740
In your eras of history before, you'd lose your head for saying such things.
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.
00:35:29.900
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.
00:35:45.940
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.
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.
00:36:24.840
And so on top of being a bad citizen, coach is also a bad Christian.
00:36:33.360
If the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals would ever rule in my favor, if I was in front of them,
00:36:49.260
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.
00:37:08.600
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.
00:37:18.840
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.
00:37:57.280
You know, I love the fact that he said, if you really want to get silly, are you kidding me?
00:38:08.540
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.
00:38:23.380
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.
00:39:23.700
I'm a man of principle, I guess, and that's my hometown.
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?
00:40:05.460
You've already been called a bad Christian by the Ninth Circuit Court.
00:40:12.180
He goes and serves in the Marine Corps, protects our freedoms there, comes back, meets Jesus, life changes.
00:40:22.060
And so, his coaching time was really that chance to go back and say, you know what?
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.
00:40:47.500
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.
00:41:04.980
I think the intent is to get rid of people like you, I think.
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.
00:41:32.600
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.
00:41:47.520
And he applied himself and the coach would actually coach him, listen to him.
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.
00:42:26.420
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.
00:42:46.060
My son didn't know how to, had never seen the game.
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.
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.
00:43:56.100
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.
00:44:03.120
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.
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.
00:45:02.060
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.
00:46:16.460
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.
00:46:30.520
However, recently the Supreme Court has been good for religious liberty, hasn't it?
00:46:37.760
Has anything changed besides this new justice that doesn't know what a woman is?
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.
00:47:22.160
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.
00:47:32.740
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.
00:47:54.020
Just a reminder, I'd love you to rate and subscribe to the podcast and pass this on to a friend