An op-ed published in The Los Angeles Times took aim at a former high school football coach who lost his job over his refusal to stop prayers after games in the middle of the field.
In the op-ed titled, “Jesus said to pray in a ‘closet,’ not on the 50-yard line,” Randall Balmer noted former high school football coach Joseph Kennedy walked to the middle of the field after every game and offered prayers.
When asked to stop the practice, Kennedy refused. He was later removed from his position and filed a lawsuit.
Balmer mentioned the Supreme Court heard arguments on the case Monday.
“Unfortunately, given the court’s composition and recent rulings (thank you, Mitch McConnell), we have no assurance that the justices will defend the 1st Amendment’s establishment clause and retain the separation of church and state, which has ensured the vitality of religion throughout American history,” Balmer wrote.
He added, “As an Episcopal priest, I’d be the last person to gainsay the importance of prayer. But context matters. It matters a lot.”
Balmer went on to bring up Jesus Christ’s thoughts on prayer.
“He castigated the religious authorities of his day for their public prayers. He called them hypocrites, ‘standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets’ so they could be seen by others,” Balmer wrote.
He continued, “Jesus, who rarely in the New Testament prayed publicly, instructed his followers instead to ‘enter thy closet, and … shut thy door’ to pray (King James version, Matthew 6:6). Pray in a closet, not at the 50-yard line.”
The op-ed argues religion “has flourished in the United States as nowhere else precisely because it is uncoerced, precisely because of the 1st Amendment and the separation of church and state.”
Concluding his op-ed, Balmer recognized Kennedy has every right to pray but Jesus “suggested that he do so in private, not the middle of a football field as the game ends.”
He added, “The 1st Amendment concurs with that wisdom. For the sake of the integrity of the faith, let’s hope — pray — that the justices will do the same.”
