American high school football coach Joe Kennedy said getting suspended by his school for praying during games was the "hardest thing" he has ever experienced, even harder than when he served as a Marine in Iraq.
"It'd be easier if you stabbed or shot at me in combat. I just felt like I was letting them down," he told the Daily Signal.
Kennedy had been an assistant coach for the Bremerton High School varsity football in Washington. For almost eight years, he would say a prayer at midfield at every game, inspired by the movie "Facing the Giants" released in 2006.
But last October, a day before the last game of the season, the school said praying at the 50-yard line "poses as a genuine risk that the District will be liable for violating the federal and state constitutional rights of students or others."
Kennedy was then suspended.
The suspension was ordered even though Bremerton School District noted that there is "no evidence that students have been directly coerced to pray with Kennedy."
Liberty Institute, which represents Kennedy, filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
"To put it simply, the school district is discriminating against him—against Coach Kennedy—on a basis of his religion and the fact that he's a Christian. It's religious discrimination," said Mike Berry, a senior attorney at Liberty Institute.
In its final evaluation letter of Kennedy, the school wrote "Do not rehire."
Kennedy continues to hope that he would get his job back.
"This whole programme is about giving these kids a shot to see what they're made of and being able to teach us, coaches, what is important about coaching. It's not the Xs and Os, and winning football games; it's watching these guys overcoming the things that they go through in life, and emerging as a stronger person because of it," he said.
