The Law at Work The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard argument on the case of a public high school football coach who lost his job for refusing to discontinue his practice of silently praying with willing members of his team and others on the 50-yard line after games, win or lose. The school argued allowing such prayer would constitute its unconstitutional endorsement of religion, with a coercive effect on players who participated and a stigmatizing effect on those who did not. The school offered to accommodate the coach by providing a private place for him to pray after games away from students. The coach argued that to prohibit his postgame prayers on the field violated his constitutional rights to the free exercise of religion and free speech as a government employee. In a few months, the court’s ruling will answer the question of how far a public school instructor whose faith compels him to share his faith may do so in the presence of students without breaching the wall between church and state. But employee prayer in the private sector raises a similar question: May a private-sector employer punish an employee for sharing that person’s faith with others in […]
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