Can’t Satanists Have Religious Freedom, Too?
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Bremerton High School coach Joe Kennedy was suspended for leading prayer on the field, because a public school isn’t supposed to violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment. He got lots of support from the right, including the right-wing presidential candidates. But when Satanists also prayed on the same football field, they were subject to threats, even though they were not led by a school employee, and thus are constitutionally protected.
…senior class president Abe Bartlett and a group of students invited the Seattle Chapter of the Satanist Temple to pray on the Bremerton High School football field.
In a statement Bartlett commented:
The main reason I did it, is to portray to the school district that I think we should either have a policy that we’re not going to have any religious affiliation or public religious practices, or they should say people are going to be allowed to practice their religion publicly whatever their beliefs.
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A group of students shouted threats and threw objects in the direction of the Satanists, which is highly disappointing. Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of the Constitution should understand that a public school cannot favor any religion over another.
Yet, they screamed and shouted when another religious group was allowed to pray on the field. I assume they did not understand that players could pray on the field, they just couldn’t be led by Kennedy, who obviously is an employee of the high school.
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