Joe Kennedy, the Washington assistant high school football coach who lost his job due to post-game prayers with players, returned to the football field on Friday.
Kennedy won his case in the U.S. Supreme Court, which said his religious practice was protected by the Constitution.
Following Bremerton High School’s 27-12 victory over Mount Douglas Secondary School on Friday night, Kennedy walked to midfield by himself, knelt down, and prayed for roughly ten seconds.
While he had been previously joined by some of his players in past years, Kennedy was not joined by anyone on the field after the game. There was “scattered applause from the modest crowd,” according to the Associated Press.
While there were police officers and private security guards on hand in case there were any issues, there were no reported problems or interruptions during the event.
“Knowing that everybody’s expecting me to go do this kind of gives me a lot of angst in my stomach,” Kennedy said before the game, which was his first since 2015. “People are going to freak out that I’m bringing God back into public schools.”
The first clause in the Bill of Rights states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” which has long been established as a separation of church and state.
