Coach Joe Kennedy was fired by Bremerton High School in Washington state for having private, on-the-field prayers after games. His case took eight years to get sorted, with the Supreme Court finally ruling in June 2022 that he should not have been fired.
Four months later, a U.S. district court ruled that Coach Kennedy was "to be reinstated to his previous position as assistant coach of the Bremerton High School football team" on or before March 15, 2023 and that the school district pay his attorneys' fees and costs.
Jeremy Dys of First Liberty Institute, the law firm that represented Kennedy, says the coach took a stand for everyone's religious liberty, and he thinks it would be something to see all Americans stand up and say, "I recognize the freedom that I have, and I'm going to exercise it."
That, he tells AFN, is "the whole point of this entire thing."
"We are encouraging everybody in the country on September 1st to take a knee with Coach Kennedy," he says. "In fact, that is the name of the campaign: Take a Knee with Coach Joe Kennedy."
"Coach Kennedy fought for our freedom in the military, he fought for our freedom in the courts, and now it is up to you and I, the benefactors of that freedom, to take up on the very thing that he won for us," Dys submits.
So on the evening of September 1st, First Liberty is asking football players, coaches, and fans on gridirons and sidelines all across the country to take a knee with Coach Kennedy.
"Send us a picture of it, and maybe we will include it in our social media recap of the event," says Dys.
