Teachers, coaches, and school administrators are representatives of the state, and they are properly prohibited from encouraging or discouraging religious activity when acting in those capacities, writes Holly Hollman, general counsel and associate executive director of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. She examines the potential impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s pending decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court heard Kennedy v. Bremerton School District , a case out of the state of Washington about the speech rights of government employees and the freedom of religion in public schools. For nearly two hours, the justices asked questions reflecting the court’s intense interest in religion cases, evident from the number of those cases it has agreed to review in the last few years. While parties perceived as representing the religious side are on an unprecedented winning streak , this case presents a complex choice. In this case, a government employee asserts a right to pray on the job that conflicts with decades of settled precedents that protect the religious freedom of students. The case was brought by a former assistant football coach who had a history of praying with players in the locker […]
