Last week the Court heard arguments in a case from Boston where three flags fly outside City Hall: the American flag, the Massachusetts flag, and the City flag. But occasionally on the third pole, in place of the City flag, they fly a rotating selection of flags honoring various days, civic groups, and events. 284 different flags over 12 years flew on the third pole without any civic group being denied, and then the City turned down a request to fly a Christian Flag for an event that would feature short speeches by some Boston clergy. The City argues that this would amount to endorsing a religion. The flag group claims that their free speech was denied. The Supreme Court heard arguments this week on whether the flag displays amounted to a public forum where speech could not be curtailed, or whether the rotating flags were official speech by the City which could and should be moderated. A majority of the justices seemed to think it was a public forum. Decision yet to come.
Now the Court has announced that it will hear a case involving a high school football coach who originally led prayers after games with his players on the fifty yard line. When told that this was a violation of school policy he began to pray there after his players had left the field. His contract was not renewed. One stated reason for not renewing the contract was that the coach was not supervising the team after the game in accordance with his official coaching duties. The larger issue, of course, is whether a school employee with considerable influence over students is praying while on the job.
The coach says he was fired for praying privately. It’s difficult to think of a less private location after a football game than the 50 yard line, except maybe for the parking lot. He wasn’t praying on the sideline where he was when the game ended, or in his car or his office. He chose to do it at midfield when he should have been in the locker room with the team. (There is also the question of why pray after the game instead of before, but that isn’t part of this case.)
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled against the coach, but he appealed this apparently reasonable decision to the Supreme Court and they have decided to hear it. Given the growing track record of the conservative justices on matters of “religious freedom,” we should all be worried about what their ruling will say about prayer in school settings, and by extension in other government settings.
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