Commentary
Joe Kennedy lost his high school football coaching job. Did he engage in any untoward behavior with any of his students? Not at all.
All he did was pray for a few minutes after each of his football games, on the 50-yard line. He did so quietly, and did not entice any of his students to follow his practice.
The argument of the school board was that students might try to curry favor with Coach Kennedy by joining him on these occasions. If so, they might as well prohibit this football coach from praying in church on a Sunday, since his football players might try to curry favor with him by joining him there. If he had taken a knee to protest racism, the school board would not likely have fired him….