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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Prayer works.

I want to say this scientifically, literally, prayer works.

Even for non-believers,

it reduces stress, increases optimism, enhances self-esteem.

It actually regulates heartbeats.

It's been this way since the foundation of the world.

Now, for believers,

It's much more than that.

It's dialogue with our God.

It's our meditation.

It's our surrender to the power that guides us and watches over us.

If it's done correctly, it humbles us.

It's our connection to revelation and tranquility.

We know that prayer can save us, protect our loved ones, our leaders, our nation, and that's why believers do it.

So that kind of covers everybody, really.

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

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

You'll hear why.

Players then started to join him, kneeling in on the 50-yard line, players eventually from both teams.

He wasn't praying over the loudspeaker and demanding people to join.

He was praying quietly.

And anyone who wanted to join him was welcome to.

He didn't invite them.

They asked if they could join.

He said, it's a free country.

Well, people didn't like that.

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

But even the local school and school board were reasonable about things.

He complied for a minute, not for long, because then the attorneys got involved.

He went back to praying publicly and it cost him his job.

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

Kind of their thing, kind of what he did for 20 years.

In the end, he decided to sue the school and stand up for the first amendment the supreme court is expected to hear this case in just a few weeks here's what i want to know

why is anyone threatened by someone offering a silent prayer and is there still room for god in this country or

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.

Don't answer that.

Let's see how the Supreme Court answers that.

Today on the Glenbeck podcast, Coach Joe Kennedy.

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Now, I got to get back onto the gridiron.

Hi, Joe.

How are you doing?

Very good.

Thanks for coming in.

Thank you.

Yeah, I'm excited to.

I'm actually,

this case that you're involved in is so

important

and excuse the pun, but game-changing, I think, if you if you win and especially if you lose.

but I I've done some research on your life story and you have a fascinating life story can you just like literally start at the beginning

sure okay it's funny I was sitting out on the bench you got out there for Forrest Gump and I felt I feel very much like him it's like it's just my life you know it's life's like a box of chocolates exactly right it started out I was adopted my parents they couldn't have kids.

They were just were a good Catholic family, and you've got to have a lot of kids.

And they couldn't have them, and they adopted a girl.

About a year later, they adopted me.

And a few years later, through nature or through science or by the nature of God, they started having kids.

And they started popping them out like crazy.

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

Oh, my gosh.

So we sat down when I was about seven.

You know, I figured I was just a happy, rambunctious kid about seven.

And then they told us that we were adopted and it kind of drew over a wedge right there.

And I became one of those really angry kids.

And over the next couple years, I completely derailed.

Okay, so wait, why did they tell you you were adopted?

Were they

anymore?

What do you mean?

How did you know that they felt that way?

I was told many times.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

The worst thing they ever did was the day they adopted me and stuff like that.

But to their defense, I was a terrible, terrible kid.

I mean, there's no easy way to say it.

I was a kid that you would not want your kids around anywhere.

Okay.

So that takes you up to about seven years old.

And

then

what happens?

Is this when you go to Mount Rainier fishing?

I basically did everything from that age.

I was in and out of group homes, foster homes,

because they gave you up?

They basically kicked me out and I ran away.

Between both of those,

I went and stayed at a bunch of different places.

Through the grace of God, I had some neighbors next door that I still call my parents, and they're the ones that basically raised me, kept a camper open so I had a place to sleep at night.

But technically, you were still

you still had the foster, I mean, the actual adoptive parents.

Right, they were still, yeah, they were still around, but I didn't want to have anything to do with them, and they didn't want to have anything to do with me.

They actually moved away while I was gone at one of the foster homes, and I didn't even tell me.

Wow.

And so then there's one point in your life where you go fishing up at Mount Rainier, and you say it was the best day.

Maybe my research is wrong.

Best day of your life, just you and your dad.

Oh, yeah.

So up at Port Angeles.

Okay, all right.

Yeah.

So

out of the blue, he said, hey, let's go on a vacation.

I'm like.

Just you two.

Just us two.

And I'm like, okay, what's the catch here?

How old?

I was probably

11 or 12, somewhere right in there.

And this is the first time him and I have really done anything together.

I mean, just one-on-one.

Because he was always busy with his kids.

And so we went up there and we went fishing, had a great weekend.

It was one of those bonding things you always dream about, you know, the dad and son, you know, weekend.

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

And I got back to the house and he said,

just stay in the car for a minute.

And so I'm like, all right, I didn't think anything of it.

Comes over and puts a bunch of stuff in the trunk and gets in the car.

And I'm like, what's going on?

And he started driving.

He said, well, the reason why I took you up there is because we needed to pack up the house and get you sent to this boys' home over in eastern Washington.

Oh my gosh.

I said a couple choice words, I'm sure, and then it was a dead, quiet silence.

What a just loathing the whole time

there.

What a betrayal.

Yeah.

So then what happened?

Ended up at a, it was a Christian boys' home, and they were awesome.

There were some guys that were really menly men, you know, that didn't have a problem picking me up by the neck and putting me through a wall when I needed it.

But there was also the guys that really sowed, you know, good, good words into you.

And they taught me about what it means to be a follower.

And I, of course, I rebelled for months and months.

And

it was kind of a challenge.

They said, you know, just try it.

You know, what do you got to lose?

You're here anyway.

So I tried out the God thing.

And when I was there, it fit me like a great suit.

I was just, man, this is awesome.

You know, when God works in your life, it was just really great.

And we had devotions and, you know, prayer time and

scripture readings and everything.

So it was, when you're surrounded by it, it's, it's easy to do.

As soon as I left the boys' home, I, of course, went right back to my default and became that little terror again.

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

And the Marine Corps will beat that out of you?

Yes.

Yeah.

It's amazing some of the things that I need.

You know, some of the kids I coached, you know, they needed a firm, you know, grasp by the helmet every once in a while.

And some of them just needed a hug.

And I was able to get a lot of my training for being a coach from the boys' home and through all those experiences.

I have a good friend who works for me now.

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

And

he was, I think,

12 or 13 and on his own,

you know, rented a place.

I don't even know how, but got a job, rented a place.

No heat.

I mean, you did this for a while, didn't you?

Yeah, I was a teenager.

I had my own apartment in

Bremerton.

How do you do that as a teenager?

Well, at the time, it's easy.

You just, you know, you get to know some of the not-so-savory people in town, and they have these little slums.

And I was like, hey, I need a place.

And he charged me 200 bucks.

And I had no electricity, but I had a roof over my head.

I had running water,

a bed.

And how were you earning the 200 bucks?

I don't know if I should really go into a lot of that.

But I did have a job part-time, but also I, you know, lied, cheated, stole.

I did all all the things that you shouldn't do to remind

you you were you went to the Marine Corps you were in desert storm yes that is correct spent 20 years did just about everything started out from a diesel mechanic and I had a knack for training so I became everything there is to train the martial arts program swim instructor rifle range anything I could possibly do for excitement I was was that.

And I ended up being the senior enlisted for a reserve unit out of Portland, Oregon when I retired.

Wow.

Seattle, Portland.

How are you not a communist?

I'm a fighter, I think.

I can think for myself mostly.

I don't buy into the news.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, so

when did you get married?

When you in the service?

Well, I proposed to my wife when we were nine.

And she told me I was creepy, so that didn't work out.

Wait, okay, she was nine and you were nine, yeah, oh yeah, yeah, okay, because it would have been creepy if she were nine and you were, let's say, 20.

That would be a little bit creepier, yeah, that'd be creepy, yeah, sure.

Yeah, but we're both nine years old, and I proposed to her, and she said I was creepy, and went in the house, and from that moment on, my brother and I fought endlessly over who was going to marry Denise, and I whooped his butt that day.

And yeah, I won 31 years later when I was about to get out of the Marine Corps, I reconnected with her, and it was like the first ASR.

And that was it.

We got married, and she remember you asking her at nine?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

She still thinks it's kind of creepy.

But if she would have listened, we could have been married for what, you know, 40-something years now.

Yeah.

It would have been great.

So, so when you got married, because if I understand you right, you're not,

you are a religious man.

You deeply believe, but you're not like a Bible quoter kind of guy, right?

No.

Yeah, I couldn't tell you, you know,

I know there's a couple verses, you know, like fight the good fight.

I probably have a lot of references that sound biblical, so I kind of roll with those a lot.

My biggest thing is trying to love God and love others, and I suck at that.

And I spend half my time thanking God for what he's given me, and the other half the time asking for forgiveness because I screwed it up early.

Yeah.

Was your wife real,

religious?

Yeah, she would be somebody I would consider religious.

She grew up in the church.

She had a really rough childhood,

real rough marriage, and very abusive background.

And she really attached herself to God and it got her through all of those

hard times in her life.

And that's how I ended up going is she kept asking me every Sunday, just once, hey, want to go to church?

And of course, I was too busy.

I wanted to watch football, work in my car, anything.

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

Yeah.

See,

I did the opposite.

I asked my current wife to marry me and she said, no.

And I said, why?

And she said, because we don't have a faith that we share.

And I said, oh, church doesn't work.

I said, you come over to my house on Sunday.

I've been watching HBO all morning and I'm good.

And you come over pissed because somebody was yelling at the parking lot, you know?

And

she was right.

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

There's too

many

things that happen along the way that if you don't have an understanding of something bigger that holds you together, I don't, I don't know if you can make it.

Yeah, that's actually how we made it because the first couple years we were we were married, it was it was really tough because, you know, all the abuse she went through.

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

And so she had a lot of barriers up and a lot of defenses.

And I didn't know how to break through them.

And it finally came to the point where I, you know, I'm sitting in church, you know, pouting and sitting on my hands.

Yeah, I'm not doing anything, being defiant as always.

And

I mean, I couldn't break through and it was wearing on both of us.

And she kept trying to push me away.

And finally, I broke down.

And right there in church, I ran up to the to the altar thing they have and way off to to the side because I don't want to be in front center, way off to the side.

And I just fell down and

I cried out to God, hey, you've got to help me with this.

I can't do this on my own.

And if you help me with my marriage, I will give my life to you for the rest of my days.

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

And we just sobbed together right there in front of the whole church, which was now, I think, kind of embarrassing.

But at the time, I didn't know.

I was the only person.

It was just me and God up there.

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So I guess maybe we should bring your

counselor in, your attorney at this point.

No, the smart guy.

Yeah, Jeremy Dice.

He is from First Liberty Institute.

Been on the program several times.

What you guys do at First Liberty is remarkable.

It's weird that you are this guy who

you're not

a Bible thumper.

You

don't necessarily seem to be the guy who's like, hey, I want to be out in front.

And

you're not,

you don't strike me as the guy who's just trying to rope everybody in.

Yeah, I'm just an average schmuck who just wanted to coach football.

Right.

So you're coaching football in Bremerton, right?

That is correct.

There's your first mistake.

I mean, I grew up

in the Pacific, I know.

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest.

You understand?

Yeah, I love it.

But I just don't think I could live there with the craziness now.

It's just.

It's beyond crazy.

It's beyond crazy.

So

this starts maybe when?

2008?

2008

when I was asked to start coaching.

Okay.

That's my first year.

And because I know I did the same thing, I screwed the the first part of my life up like crazy

and completely surrendered to the Lord and I made him a promise.

I will do what you tell me to do.

And it's led me into some crazy places.

And I always know it's him

when I hear something and I'm like, oh, crap.

No, I'm not that guy.

Yeah.

That's when you know.

Warped sense of humor.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He's up there laughing all the time.

He says, you'll figure this out eventually.

Yeah.

And

I know what it means to me because I made a covenant with him, and I take that seriously.

You obviously take this seriously, and you promised you'd serve him.

And didn't you promise him that you would pray after every game?

Yes, I watched Facebook.

I got offered the job on a Friday.

I applied, went to the interview.

They offered it to me.

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

I had a new marriage.

I was really trying to figure out my life.

And, you know, you know how much coaching could take.

It's going to be consuming.

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

And this movie came on, Facing the Giants.

And once again, God put me right to my knees.

And I heard the answer louder than anything in the world.

I mean, he answered.

And just right there on the living room floor, I said, I'm all in.

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

And that was my covenant to him.

And from the moment I started coaching to the moment I ended my coaching career for doing the same thing, praying by myself on the 50-yard line.

So in 2008, you start this.

How long before it becomes a problem?

I was in my eighth season before

eight years.

You're doing this.

And kids are joining you.

Yeah, so it was on and off.

So there's the famous two helmet that the other side likes to show and say, look, he's praying with the kids.

Yeah, I did that.

But when the school district said to stop, I absolutely did.

But it was hit and miss.

You know, kids, sometimes we got our butts kicked and they didn't want to come out and, you know, have a moment of peace.

They just wanted to lick their wounds and, you know,

they needed a hug.

Or if we won really good, they wanted to go, you know, hang out with the cheerleaders and bands and do all the selfies and all those kind of things.

So

it wasn't mandatory.

It was nothing.

It was, it was such a

Did you ask them to join?

No.

and that's a crazy thing.

I sat there, you know, just racking my brain.

Have I even

asked anybody to join me?

Or have I even talked about God once to any of my guys?

And I went through, I mean, eight years, 60 people on a team.

That's a lot of opportunities.

And I wrecked my brain.

I put it out on Facebook.

It was like, have I ever done this?

Because, you know, you talk to kids so much in that time, but never once did I invite them or any of the other people.

So how they just saw you praying and they decided to come and pray?

Yeah, originally I had a couple kids that approached and said, hey coach, what have you been doing out there?

This is about six months into the into me coaching and they said, you know, what are you doing?

I said, well, I was just thanking God for what you guys did.

And they said, well, we're believers.

Can we join you?

I was like, it's a free country.

You can do whatever you want to do.

Right.

And that's how that originally started.

Then some more kids came out and then some more.

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

and they said, hey, can we invite the other team?

I'm like, this is your team.

You're the leaders of this team.

You do what you want to do.

And they started inviting the other team.

And last year that I was in my eighth season, we had every one of the teams out there both coming together until the school district asked me to stop.

I have to tell you, the first time my son plays football, the first time I went to a football game watching him and they all got on their knees and prayed,

I was just overwhelmed.

I mean,

I thanked God I lived in Texas

where, you know, you can join or not join.

It's no big deal.

I don't understand.

So then

how did this all come down?

They first said, hey, coach, and they liked you, right?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

We're still friends to the state.

The superintendent, I consider him a dear friend.

He's a great believer.

This is people that I've worked with for almost a decade.

And it came from a compliment from one of the other school districts and said, they called the principal and said, Hey, what your football program is doing is really awesome.

So, of course, they had to, you know, play the telephone game.

And, you know, the principal asked the athletic director, hey, what's Kennedy doing?

Athletic director went to the head coach, Kennedy's getting us in trouble because of the prayer.

The principal's asking about it.

Kind of spun all out of control in just one weekend.

And

that's what it came down to was

them doing an investigation.

But we really did try to work together.

For a good week,

at least a week, we sat down every day.

I sat down with a superintendent, the principal,

other members of the administration, the school board, trying to figure out a way to exit out of this mess we were in.

Because none of us wanted a fight.

Right.

And you weren't doing it

to turn everybody to Jesus.

You were doing it personally for you and your covenant.

Right.

And I thought that's where it was going to end.

My buddy here will tell you about the legal aspects of it.

But I thought it was going to be over in one week and it would just all blow over because I agreed with the school district.

Hey, you don't want me praying with the kids, you know, with my team?

Fine.

I won't do it anymore because I don't want to cause any problems.

I just want to coach.

And so I thought we were in all agreement over that.

It wasn't until they started moving the goalposts on me and saying, oh, well, this and that.

And then their legal counsel got involved and they said, you can't talk to us anymore.

You need to talk to the lawyers.

And

I was handcuffed.

I couldn't do anything else, which really sucks when these are your friends and you can't even talk to them.

So when did you get involved, Jeremy?

Oh, about midway through the season.

So when he gets the first letter and agrees not to

talk, pray with the kids anymore and all that.

Then they keep on kind of making more insistent requirements of him.

Like what?

Well, they first say, well, you know what, it's taking you away from your job responsibilities after the game with the kids.

So 15 seconds on a knee in silent prayer would keep him from doing his job duties after the game.

So they suggest instead, rather than do that, why don't you walk across the field, go across the track, walk up the stairs, two flights of stairs, go across the practice field, into the school building, down the hallway, into the janitor's office, and you can pray there instead.

Now, I haven't stepped out.

Seriously?

Yeah.

That was an accommodation.

That was one.

Yeah, the second.

That would keep you from doing your job.

I mean, that would help you do your job with the kids.

Yeah.

The alternative, by the way, and they said, well, not only would that take you away from the job duties, but we don't want people seeing you doing this either because that could be coercion in and of itself, they say.

So he could do either go into the school building and do it there or, again, walk across the field, up the stairs, outside of the stadium, go back down the sidewalk, into a side gate, up the stairs, across a catwalk, and into the press box.

And then he'd have to clear everybody out of the press press box because people can't be seen, you know, who couldn't see him doing this.

But then you have the other problem of these gigantic windows, and the entire school, you know, everybody gathered there to be able to see him doing what he's doing there.

So, this was just untenable.

This is not something that could be done.

I'd love that.

Look,

this is insane.

You know, it's crazy.

I was thinking about this today, getting ready for this interview, and I thought,

let me get this right.

My kindergartner or first grader can go into school and the teacher can teach about transgenderism, talk about their gay lover or whatever they want to talk about.

And I have to accept that, but you can't pray quietly on your own.

This world is as the lunatics are running the asylum.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

And that's precisely what this case is about, because think about both of those options that are offered.

That's sending sending the message, and this is what coach told us at the beginning.

Look, I can't accept those.

Number one, that's not my commitment.

My commitment was to pray by myself.

Number two, if they asked me to go off into the school building or up into the press box, well, that's kind of sending the message that prayer is something we need to keep out of sight and hidden from view.

And the First Amendment does not require us to have to go and push ourselves off to the corners in order to practice our faith, especially if it's just simply taking a knee.

Like he's tying a shoe in the middle of the field.

So that's where we got involved.

And we just simply said, look, honestly, this is going to be about a three-week project for us.

But we're going to come in.

Okay, he stopped praying with the kids.

Good, we're done.

It's 50 yards wide.

The football field is.

Surely somewhere on that 50-yard line, over 50 yards, he can actually sit, take a knee, and sign a prayer by himself.

But the school district's attorneys just entrenched themselves, and that would not be the case, which is kind of funny because now they're saying that he wants to continue to pray with the kids.

That's not the commitment he made.

That's not it at all.

Yeah, they're telling me what I want to do now.

Ah, okay.

They want to know what my commitment is.

Well, they always know better than you.

Yeah.

So do the judges.

So, yeah.

So, so let me ask the lawyers, were they just doing what lawyers always do, and that is just don't do any, just no, we're not doing, were they doing that to protect or were they furthering an agenda?

You know, I think there's two parts to that question.

Initially, I think the local attorneys there were just doing what a lot of local attorneys across the country do, which is, uh-oh, religion's on campus again.

Get the Lysol out.

We've got to clear this virus off the campus.

And we see this all all over the country.

Because nobody wants a hassle.

No, right.

As soon as a teacher or even a student starts talking about religion, it's like, this is the new pandemic.

We've got to inoculate this right now before it spreads and we go into lockdown.

That's exactly what happens all the time.

So I think that was the initial setup.

Once we started going on appeal, they got new attorneys.

These new attorneys come, I think, with a more ideological bent.

And now they start trying to change the facts from reality, which is hard to do because at the time this was all going down, you've got an email, for instance, from the superintendent to the top dog education guy in the state of Washington saying this case has changed from being about praying with the kids to a coach's right to be able to pray by himself on a knee at the 50-yard line, which is exactly what his commitment was and what we've now appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Now at the Supreme Court of the United States, they're trying to go back to saying he wants to somehow tell the kids what to do, which is the farthest from the truth.

Again, the day that they suspended him, we actually have a question and answer that they posted on the website, on their website, that says there is indeed no evidence of any student being coerced to pray with Coach Kennedy.

So you could say,

let me play devil's advocate.

You could say he's an authority.

This is what they do all the time.

You're an authority figure.

And so just your mere

doing it,

and if somebody joins, maybe they get special favors, or it might appear.

that you might become the coach's favorite, yada, yada, yada.

It's the power dynamic crap that they always shovel.

But wait a minute.

Isn't that the argument that if it works there, it should work on every topic in school?

Should it not?

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

You don't have to.

The Supreme Court said that back in the 1960s, right, in Tinker v.

Des Moines, that neither students nor teachers shed their constitutional rights when they walked through the schoolhouse gates.

That's all he's ever been asking for.

But that's precisely the argument that not only the school district has adopted, but also the Ninth Circuit has adopted here.

And this is especially dangerous.

And it came down, and this is why they suspended him in the first place: is that because he is dressed like he's dressed right now with a Knights t-shirt or a polo shirt on, he's kind of garbed in the school district's authority.

Because the students can see you.

When I look at you in that Nike shirt, I think authority.

That's the man.

Yeah, right.

Especially when I buy all of this myself.

But because the students can see you, just seeing you engaged in a private act of silent prayer is enough to coerce them into some sort of religion, in their minds, violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

I just, I hate to keep bringing this, but I cannot take the hypocrisy.

I just read a story of a kindergarten teacher who is a man, married to a man, and is very offended at the don't say gay thing, which doesn't say that at all.

His example was, how am I supposed to explain the picture of my husband and I on my desk?

Well, wouldn't that apply?

If you're going to use those rules, wouldn't that apply?

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

But let's go back to something that is even more connected to the football field.

Colin Kaepernick, right, taking a knee and protest of the national anthem.

There was a football team literally down the road from Bremerton High School whose coaches with the entire team would kneel and protest at the national anthem right while his case is going on.

Those coaches, to my knowledge, remain employed today.

Now, they filed a brief in support of Coach Kennedy when he went up to the Ninth Circuit saying, look, we don't necessarily agree with this whole prayer thing, but we want the right to be able to take a knee and protest at the national anthem with our players.

And so the double standard on the First Amendment is

just openly on display when you can say, look, you can take a knee and protest the national anthem.

That doesn't violate the First Amendment.

But dare to spend too much time on one knee and you can be perceived as engaged in prayer.

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

And the ramifications of this are enormous.

Did you think about disguising your prayer by taking a knee at the beginning of the game during the national anthem?

Because then they would have run for the hills.

They'd throw you a parade.

All right.

Is it true that, I think it was the Ninth Court of Appeals, is it true true that one of the judges actually said you're a bad Christian because you should be praying in the closet?

My buddy.

Yeah.

Yeah, no, it was an interesting - so the entire opinion, the first half of the opinion is all, you know, he violated the free exercise or the establishment clause.

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

How do these people become judges if they don't understand that clause?

Talk to President Obama about that.

All the facts of the case.

Yeah.

So he's talking about the case, and so he shouldn't have been doing that.

So he can't use the free speech clause, and he's talking to members of the media, so he's violating the freedom of the press clause as well.

So it's the First Amendment.

He's not a bad guy for talking to you right now.

So

he's a bad citizen.

Just for those who may not have read, and I don't say this with any malice or mocking tone, for those who don't understand the First Amendment, can you just explain what they wrote and why the freedom of religion is and freedom of speech is there.

Yeah, look, that's there to be 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.

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

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

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

No, that's not right.

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

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

Correct.

So we don't want that to be the case.

So the free speech clause is there to say, no, I disagree with President so-and-so or Senator so-and-so, and you're the right to be able to say that.

In

your eras of history before, you'd lose your head for saying such things.

Correct.

The same thing when it comes to religion.

The design of the free exercise clause and the establishment clause was to say, You can worship and act according to the faith and the conscience that drives it, and the government can't tell you how to do that.

So that's the two sides of that.

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

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

He ran the church of England.

And you go to

the king's church on these things.

And if you didn't, you couldn't serve in the government.

So they were saying,

Government cannot make an established religion.

They can't say this religion.

and if you want to be mayor, you better go to this church.

Oh, no, that's what the judge said to me.

Yeah, that gets us right at the judge there.

So the first half of the opinion, you've violated the free speech clause, the press clause, the establishment clause.

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

This is a federal circuit court judge saying this now.

As I read the Bible, it tells me that I'm supposed to go into my closet and pray, and I'm not supposed to do that in front of everybody else.

And so on top of being a bad citizen, coach is also a bad Christian.

I I knew that.

Can I tell you, if the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals would ever rule in my favor, if I was in front of them, I would question everything I know.

I'd be like, I'm on the wrong side.

They agree with me.

Okay, so

where is this left now?

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

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

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

Make him a football coach again and let him pray after the game by himself.

That's it.

That's all we've asked for in our complaint.

That's what we're asking the Supreme Court to do here.

Now, we're not unaware that there's greater ramifications here.

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

Enormous.

Because if he can be fired for a silent prayer for 15 to 30 seconds because kids can see him, Well, then what happens when the teacher prays over her lunch in the cafeteria and students can see her praying for her salad?

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?

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

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

Well, that's a demonstrative act of religious activity.

That could be sufficient for you to lose your job.

No one should have to choose between their faith and their livelihood.

You know, I love the fact that he said, if you really want to get silly,

are you kidding me?

Men can have periods.

We're way beyond silly.

Any of that stuff could happen, which means not just for school, but how else does this affect

the immediate context would definitely be public school teachers and coaches.

You know attorneys, though, and

activists.

Where does this go?

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

And look, I think groups like the National Education Association, for instance, they know that.

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 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.

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.

everybody.

So I don't even know if you can talk about this.

What are you hoping for with the Supreme Court?

Who do you think is on your side and not on your side?

And what's the appeal?

How are you tailoring it for the school?

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

Do you want to go back to Bremerton?

Oh, absolutely.

I'm a man of principal, I guess, and that's my hometown.

My kids are, they live right by the school.

All my family's there, all my friends.

You live in Florida now.

I'm currently down in Florida.

And why did you move away?

My wife's dad, he's

having some issues.

Okay, okay.

All right.

So

kind of understand.

It's a beautiful part of the country.

Just the people have gone insane.

I think they're waterlogged.

I think that's what it is.

Well, you heard his story.

He had a rough growing.

Like the first 18 years of his life is just feet wanting to get out of Bremerton.

And, I mean, lies, steals, cheats all all the way through the entire process.

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

It was rough and he wanted to get out.

You've already been called a bad Christian by the Ninth Circuit Court.

Might as well have my lawyer say it too.

So he wants to get out of Bremerton.

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

Now, you know what?

I've done all the bad things.

I need to give back to this community.

And so his coaching time was really that chance to go back and say, you know what, let me undo a lot of the wrongs I did here.

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

He's the coach that comes and picks a kid's head up when he's had a bad play or maybe talks him down when he's getting a little too ahead of himself.

And the kids that are needing food after the game, he takes to get a meal.

Kids that need cleats because they can't afford them or a place to sleep because they're homeless.

That was his job.

And that's what he did.

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

And so they were able to relate to him in that way.

So that's the, look, that's the, that's the, the, the frightening thing about these kinds.

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

I think that's an intent myself.

I think get rid of

the intent is to get rid of people like you.

I think.

Oh, it'd be a lot easier for you.

Yeah.

But I will tell you that

my son didn't know a thing about football at all.

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

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

Completely could not throw, could not catch.

This is in high school in Texas.

And

coach blows a whistle, calls him in, said,

have you ever seen this game played before?

And

he said, I tell you what, you just keep coming to practice.

I don't know if you'll ever play.

And he applied himself.

And the coach

would

actually coach him, listen to him.

It changed my son's life.

It really changed my my son's life.

A good coach can change people.

Tony Dungy this week just got in trouble because

he's awesome

because of what he said.

You know, I understood that after I joined, I had a good dad and then I saw all these players come up and they didn't and they just need that kind of, he got in trouble for that.

I mean, you're, what are you going to have?

An algorithm be the coach eventually?

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

It's been fun to see the support that he has received.

I mean, you've got guys like Nick Foles and Daryl Green, the Ageless Wonder from our growing-up years, and Bobby Bowden and Tommy Bowden, and all these other people.

I'm assuming these are football people.

My son didn't know how to never seen the game.

Steve Largent.

Steve Largent.

Oh, there you go.

Yeah, there you go.

Chad Henny's, like all these football greats.

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

Look, this is an coaches play an enormously important role in everybody's lives.

And what they bring to the field is what they bring to the field.

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

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, if he was a Muslim and he got down and he said a prayer, I don't care.

I don't care.

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

That to me is worth the price of a mission.

I don't care what religion.

I mean, if you're a devil worshipper, you know, maybe.

I don't really want that around my kids.

But other than that,

I don't understand the problem other than they can't control it.

I think that's what it boils down to.

I mean, welcome to America.

Yeah, the coach tells a great story.

I actually have one of his assistant coaches on the team that was Buddhist.

And after he was suspended from the game, I mean, you tell a coach.

Oh, yeah.

So it was when I was out in the stands, and it was when they locked down the field.

They put up all the

signs, do not approach the field.

They had cops on the field standing behind me to make sure I didn't go rushing out to the 50-yard line.

It was comical.

I'd always do selfies with the cops and stuff.

And, hey, these are my personal security guys.

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 50-yard line, and he did his little,

he's a practicing Buddhist.

He just did his little chant, his moment of reflection or whatever he does.

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

And that's why I'm still fighting is because of that.

And it was such a perfect moment to see somebody exercising their freedom right there, even though I was not allowed to.

So, when will we know?

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.

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

Isn't that

can't you be disbarred for doing things like that?

Well, I mean, that's not for me to say.

No, but I mean, if I'm presenting, I'm an attorney and I'm presenting to any judge facts that are not right.

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.

Well, there's an old saying in the law that says, if your case is strong in the law, pound the law.

If it's strong in the facts, pound the facts.

If it's strong in neither, then just pound the table.

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

They know that they would lose on the facts in reality.

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.

We are

in a new era.

I mean, I don't,

I mean, I've said for years, what is up is going to be down.

Everything you thought was solid will be liquid and it will be inside out.

We are absolutely there.

However, recently, the Supreme Court has been good for religious liberty, hasn't it?

It has.

Yes, very much so.

Has anything changed besides this new justice that doesn't know what a woman is?

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

But look, I think when we went there a couple 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, 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.

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

That court from then till now has only shifted to the right.

So I think we've got solid four votes then.

We've certainly got, I think, five right now.

But you know what?

It's a fool's errand to handicap the Supreme Court.

So we shall see what they do with this case in a couple weeks.

Well, we'd love to have you on once you get the verdict.

So, we'll do it to know.

We'll pray for you.

Glad to have you back out to the left coast and maybe have you at a football game.

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

Well, good thing I got the qualifications.

God bless you.

Thank you so much for everything you do.

And thank you, as always.

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