My father was neither a constitutional scholar nor a theologian. In fact, with his high school education, he delivered letters for the post office for 44 years in our small south Texas hometown.
But he was also a lay preacher, and his deep knowledge of the Bible, combined with his homespun, country-boy common sense, provided him with the insight to note the irony of public prayer before every high school football game. The prayers invariably included a plea to the Almighty for the safety of the players, right before they took the field under the fervent directive to beat the hell out of the other team.
I thought about this last week as I listened to the oral argument before the Supreme Court in the case of Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. High school football coach Joseph Kennedy had been fired by the district after he insisted on leading postgame prayers at midfield. Kennedy is suing to get his job back.
