OPINION: We all have the right to pray - but not on a public school football field

On the surface, it seems absurd.

The Supreme Court is taking up the case of a former Washington state high school football coach, Joseph Kennedy, who had a post-game tradition of praying at the 50-yard line – creating in the process, as one lower court judge put it, the frequent "spectacle” of mobs of people stampeding the field to join the coach in prayer.

Significantly, Kennedy was conducting these very public prayers on taxpayer-supported public school property. Consequently, the school district  told Coach Kennedy to stop conducting the after-game prayers in a manner that was  "readily observable" to students and spectators. However,  Kennedy, who is no longer a football coach at the high school, responded by suing the district on the grounds that it had violated his constitutional rights.

In my eyes, the district is simply adhering to legally established precedents, which are based on the theory that any outward display of religious activity on public school property puts peer pressure on kids and their families who happen not to subscribe to a particular religion. In legal terms, it violates the dictates of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits the state from promoting, endorsing or establishing a religion.

Whether Kennedy's constant praying at the 50-yard line does, in fact, violate this clause will now be decided by the Supreme Court. But what grabs my attention regarding this latest chapter in the long-standing debate over school prayer is the inconsistency of the conservative position. It argues that no student is required to join in the prayer, so any discomfort one may feel in watching other people pray must take a back seat to the constitutional right of every citizen to pray as he or she wishes.

But the irony in this argument is that the very same people who make it are only too happy to stop school kids from being taught America’s racial history because they claim that might cause some white kids to feel guilty or uncomfortable.

Regarding the school prayer case, yes, the coach’s desire to pray is clearly protected by the First Amendment’s Freedom of Religion guarantee. However, that same amendment also guarantees each citizen the right to be protected from the state establishing or promoting any one religion, or even religion at all. In layman’s terms, it is the separation of church and state.

So how then should this issue be resolved? Well, under our Constitution, protecting the people’s right to be free of the state promoting or endorsing religious activity on its property is a legitimate government purpose –if not a required one. And when you balance that right with the coach’s right to pray, to me it's clear that the Supreme Court should find for the school district and dismiss Kennedy’s suit.

Look, Kennedy's freedom of religion was hardly being impaired. No one ever said that he couldn't pray to God or simply thank God. But God doesn’t only hear from us pray from the 50-yard line on a football field, so it's obvious that Kennedy merely wanted to make an open demonstration of his religiosity before a large group of people. And so he can – but just not on public school property.

Kennedy can still believe. He can still pray. But during football games on public school properties, the only "Hail Marys" that should be taking place are desperate last-second passes by strong-armed quarterbacks.

Jerry Springer is a longtime nationally syndicated television talk show host who resides in Sarasota. Springer has a law degree from Northwestern University and served one term as the mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the host of "The Jerry Springer Podcast."

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Jerry Springer: It's not a 'right' to pray on a public school field