Friend:

Last week, I traveled to Bremerton, Wash., because I wanted to meet with local folks and set foot on the football field that is central to AU’s pivotal Supreme Court school-prayer case, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District.

One of the highlights of my trip was witnessing the passion of so many Bremerton clergy for church-state separation. Local Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal, and Jewish clergy joined me at Bremerton’s football field to demonstrate that our coalition includes both religious and nonreligious advocates who are fighting back to protect students’, and everyone’s, religious freedom.

Bremerton parent Paul Peterson, who sent four kids to Bremerton High School (one of whom was even coached by Kennedy), also joined us. As a parent myself, I couldn’t have agreed more with what Paul told The Washington Times: “As a parent, you should have the opportunity to raise your children in the way they want to be raised. That’s the job of the parents, not the job of the school district.” The coach’s post-game prayers with students became “a spectacle,” Paul added. “It became something that it isn’t. It’s a football game—we are there to celebrate the kids and to support them.”

My visit to Bremerton was well-timed: Kennedy turned out to be in town from his current home in Florida to talk to the press alongside his attorneys, who continued to push the deceitful narrative that the coach only wants to pray privately by himself. His lawyers' disingenuous posturing that he’s a “victim” of censorship and anti-religious activism was hard to take. The photos and videos of the coach praying with groups of students, aired by local Seattle TV stations and CNBC in the last week, told the real story.

“Church-state separation, which is guaranteed to all of us by our Constitution, means that no child should have to choose between being part of a team and their religious freedom. And that’s what happened in this case,” I told one station.

It was incredibly fortunate timing that our side was able to be represented in the press coverage that Kennedy’s large team of handlers had arranged. And how awesome it was that local clergy spoke out on our side only, in support of true religious freedom.

What’s clear to me after my Bremerton sojourn is that most students, teachers, parents, neighbors and faith leaders get it right: Public school coaches shouldn’t proselytize, students shouldn’t be coerced, and school districts have a duty to uphold the Constitution.

This case will produce one of the most significant religious freedom rulings in years. We have our work cut out for us, especially given the makeup of the court’s 6-seat conservative majority.

But we have the facts of the case, the laws of our country, and religious and nonreligious Americans alike on our side—something I’m even more certain of after meeting so many great allies in the streets, houses of worship, pubs and even the football fields of Bremerton, Washington.

With hope and gratitude,

Rachel K. Laser
President and CEO