There should be a big crowd Sept. 1 when the Bremerton Knights take to the high school football field for the first game of the season.

That’s because Coach Kennedy is back.

The Bremerton School District, on Washington’s Puget Sound west of Seattle, had booted assistant coach Joe Kennedy eight years ago.

Kennedy’s offense? Taking a knee at the 50-yard line to pray after games.

That’s right. In an era of increasing gender-bending, propaganda in social justice and identity politics, school violence, declining test scores and increasing chaos, Coach Kennedy crossed the line by praying.

Except the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the coach. In a 6-3 June, 2022, decision, the court ruled the school district violated Kennedy’s First Amendment rights and ordered him reinstated.

So Kennedy is back in the game, literally, and he said messages and calls from local supporters indicated they plan to be there for the Bremerton team’s first Friday night lights.

“I’m a little nervous, to tell you the truth,” Kennedy said in an exclusive interview with Seattle’s KOMO-TV. “And it’s more just because the first game is coming up and … I got to … knock the rust off.  It’s been a while.”

To KING-TV, Kennedy commented about his eight-year ordeal to keep his job: “I wish I could say that it was easy.

“You know, looking back it’s been a long road,” he said. “And many heartbreaking years. But, you know, it’s great that it’s finally worked out, but it’s been tough.

“To everybody that’s been supporting me, praying for me across the United States, I mean [it was] millions of people,” he continued. “That’s what’s kept me going and kept me in this fight.”

The school district indicated it wanted to put the issue behind them and that it will fully comply with the high court’s order, KING reported, and that the district will treat Kennedy’s religious beliefs the same as those of other district employees.

Following two decades with the U.S. Marines, Kennedy joined the school district in 2008, according to court documents. Initially, he would take a knee at the 50-yard line and silently pray. Players asked if they could join him. “This is a free country,” was Kennedy’s reported response. “You can do what you want.”

Soon, most of the team would join Kennedy’s prayers, and eventually opposing players also would join.

Sometimes Kennedy’s prayers included him giving short, motivational speeches and there were pre- and post-game locker room prayers, which were reported to be a tradition that pre-dated Kennedy’s tenure, court documents said.

Kennedy never pressured students to participate, and his prayer activities continued until 2015, when the school district’s superintendent learned of them.

Kennedy was ordered to stop what he was doing. So he did.

“Driving home after a game, however,” according to an account in the majority opinion by U. S. Supreme Court Justice Neal Gorsuch, “Mr. Kennedy felt upset that he had ‘broken [his] commitment to God’ by not offering his own prayer, so he turned his car around and returned to the field.

“By that point, everyone had left the stadium, and he walked to the 50-yard line and knelt to say a brief prayer of thanks.”

After that, Kennedy engaged in silent prayer after games, but the school district, believing the action represented the district endorsing religion, eventually fired him.

Legal actions followed, with Kennedy eventually winning at the Supreme Court.

Returning to the field for the 2023 season, Kennedy was asked by KOMO if the school district had placed any restrictions on his mid-field prayers.

“I don’t have any guidance on that yet,” he replied. “They’re still trying to figure that out. I know that I’m allowed to pray after a football game, and that’s what I intend to do.”

Kennedy was queried by KOMO whether he had to take a knee — couldn’t he just bow his head instead?

“I could, but my commitment was, you know, that’s the way I’ve always done it, when I said I was going to give God the glory after every game — win or lose — on the football field,” according to Kennedy.

“That’s my tradition; that’s what I’ll do,” he said. “I’ll be just as good, really makes no difference.

“God doesn’t care, but I want to be thankful. I don’t know if I’ll be able to stand after the game. I might be a little emotional about it and taking a knee might be a good thing.”

So the battle for freedom of religion continues with one more victory. Thanks, Coach, and ultimately, thanks be to God.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

The post Football Coach Who Was Fired for Praying Set for Triumphant Return to the Field – And He Isn’t Done Giving ‘God the Glory’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

It has been revealed that a secret guest was staying in the White House for two weeks, unbeknownst to most of the White House staff.

On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that the day after the president’s embattled son Hunter Biden reached an initial plea deal with prosecutors in June, the president and first lady received some secret guests at the White House.

Those guests were none other than Hunter Biden, his wife and his young son, who stayed in the Executive Mansion for two weeks, with most White House aides having absolutely no knowledge of the visit.

The two-week stay included a controversial appearance alongside the president and the Indian Prime Minister and an appearance on the balcony of the White House during the Fourth of July celebrations.

Hunter Biden had previously agreed to a plea deal with federal prosecutors that would have allowed him to avoid prison time. The deal fell through, however.

Attorney General Merrick Garland later appointed Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss as a special counsel to investigate the case.

Hunter Biden is now in real trouble, and if the evidence that comes to light links his activities to the president, it could spell disaster for the House of Biden.

That is why the first son’s two-week stay at the White House is so problematic: It shows a close connection between the president and his troubled son at a time when the scandal surrounding Hunter Biden is gathering steam.

What makes this visit all the more suspicious is the fact that this was done without the knowledge of even most of the senior staff at the White House.

The Washington Post says that White House aides are rarely involved in the conversations with the president about Hunter Biden, and most were completely unaware that he stayed there for two weeks.

It is almost as if the president is trying to hide the close relationship he has with his son, even from his closest advisors.

Now, it is important to remember that Hunter Biden has not been convicted of any wrongdoing, and it has not yet been conclusively proven that if he did do anything wrong, his father was involved in it.

Nevertheless, this visit is very politically inconvenient, considering all the trouble that the president is having trying to distance himself from his son’s alleged crimes.

Biden has long denied having any involvement in his son’s business dealings, but evidence has come forward that while he was vice president, Hunter Biden often used his father’s position as clout when conducting business dealings.

The most damming evidence of such allegations came from a former business partner of Hunter Biden, Devon Archer, who claimed that Hunter and his father spoke often about business dealings and that Hunter would put his father on the phone during business meetings to show his clout.

This visit is just the latest example of the president’s very close involvement in his son’s life, despite his claims to the contrary.

Much as the Biden family would like, the Hunter Biden scandal is not going away any time soon, and it only seems to be getting worse.

If Hunter Biden goes down, there is a very real chance that his father will go down with him.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

The post White House Staff Oblivious About Guest Who Secretly Stayed for Two Weeks After Hunter Biden Plea Deal appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.