Friday night lights will seem dim in Bremerton in light of recent events causing one of the team’s coaches to be placed on leave.

Joe Kennedy, the football coach placed on leave, refused to discontinue his tradition of post-game prayers on the field.

Bremerton School District placed Kennedy on leave; it saw his acts as a failure to comply with district policies.

Bremerton School District is overstepping its bounds by not allowing Kennedy to express his freedoms following football games.

Kennedy has been performing these post-game prayers since 2008 but has just now been cited, and many bystanders are wondering why, according to an article published by KIRO 7.

For more than seven years, Kennedy has performed his right to practice religion.

He has not once forced a player to participate, yet every week dozens join in – even players from the opposing team.

Since the story broke and became national news, Kennedy has received encouragement from supporters around the country.

A Seattle Times article reported Republican presidential candidates Ben Carson and Donald Trump reached out to Kennedy and praised him for standing up for his rights.

In a recent interview with Fox News in regard to the move by Bremerton School District to put Kennedy on leave, his lawyer Kelly Shackelford stated “It’s really an incredible misconception of the law…just explicit religious discrimination…it violates the First Amendment (and) federal employment laws.”

As most American’s should remember from high school civics class, the First Amendment reads “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …”

While critics of Kennedy will quickly stand up and cry that he has fallen under the category of establishing a religion, in reality he has never established anything other than his own personal beliefs.

Read further and a paradox to the critics arises when the amendment states the prohibition of actions, such as Kennedy’s, shall not be infringed on.

Misguided individuals are seeking an unlawful freedom from religion, when the status of our nation actually recognizes freedom of religion.

Laws aside, what Kennedy was doing this season, and for seven seasons prior, is truly causing no harm to individuals.

Observe most sporting events, and religious gestures will be numerous, and these have absolutely no effect on anyone or anything other than the athlete performing the gesture.

An individual who is unable to cope with a gesture, which typically lasts a matter of seconds, should recognize alternative, more substantial and overlying problems at hand.

The debate over any sort of integration of religion into public schools is not likely to ever end.

With this, it is important to remember the laws that are in place, as well as looking at it from a broader perspective and seeing if it is even something worth debating about.

There are larger problems present in high school culture – and society as a whole, for that matter – and condemning an individual with blameless intentions, such as Kennedy, is asinine.

Philip Grossenbacher is a sophomore English education major from Lynwood. He can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of The Office of Student Media.