Welcome to G3 Weekly—a summary of this week’s top news stories on Christianity and the public square.
This week, documents showed that high school football coach Joe Kennedy will return to the field after winning a landmark Supreme Court battle. Midterm election polling indicated that a large segment of the voting population wants America to be a “Christian nation.” Meanwhile, left-wing protesters stole and ate a teenage street preacher’s Bible.
Praying High School Football Coach Reinstated After Long Fight in the Courts
“For the LORD will judge His people and will have compassion on His servants” (Psalm 135:14).
Bremerton School District in Washington will reinstate Joe Kennedy, a football coach who lost his job after praying on the field, for the first time since 2015.
Kennedy was known for praying at the fifty-yard line toward the end of football games, whether his students won or lost, and never demanded that other students join him. Although the prayers lasted for approximately thirty seconds, the school issued a warning against “demonstrative religious activity” and claimed that Kennedy was neglecting his work responsibilities through his supplications.
After a prolonged legal battle that ended in a Supreme Court victory for Kennedy, the coach will be reinstated to his former position next year. Court documents said that the district cannot “retaliate against or take any future adverse employment action against Kennedy for conduct that complies with the terms of the court’s order.” Kennedy will also receive reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs from the district.
“As the Supreme Court has affirmed, Coach Kennedy’s personal prayer of gratitude at the end of a football game is protected under the First Amendment both as religious exercise and as private speech, free from government censorship,” Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel John Bursch said in a statement. “American citizens don’t give up the right to prayerfully practice their faith during working hours when they accept a job with a public employer.”
Strong Minority of Americans Want a ‘Christian Nation’
“Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21).
As many as 45% of Americans believe the country should be a “Christian nation,” according to a new poll from Pew Research.
Many progressive outlets have emphasized their concern over “Christian nationalism” as the midterm elections quickly approach. The nebulous term is often leveraged to describe political conservatives who hold to some semblance of biblical viewpoints, even if passion for those viewpoints is driven by Christianized culture rather than personal love and fear of Christ.
According to the survey results, 60% of respondents believe that the founding fathers created the United States as a “Christian nation,” although a slim 33% believe that the nation “is now” Christian. Roughly 67% agreed that churches should “keep out of political matters.”
A separate poll from FiveThirtyEight reveals that Republicans are more likely to see discrimination against Christians as a serious problem, while Democrats believe that right-leaning Christians asserting their worldview in the public square is a more salient threat.
Teen Street Preacher Gets His Bible Eaten at Left-Wing Protest
“So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose” (Isaiah 55:11).
While street preaching at a campus protest against Daily Wire commentator Matt Walsh, students stole nineteen-year-old Nick Proell’s beloved Legacy Standard Bible, tore portions from the volume, and consumed some of the pages.
“It was my personal study Bible that I used every single day,” Proell said in an interview with The Daily Wire. “At church, at Bible study, to preach, you name it.”
After Nick emphasized the absurdity of transgender ideology and the beauty of sexual ethics in the light of Scripture, he also recalled that Jesus and the apostles were often hated for their message. “This is exactly what happened to us last night, and it is something we as Christians should expect to happen if we’re living out the Christian life,” he remarked.
“While I lost $100 and a Bible that meant so much to me, it’s just a material object. Unlike in many other countries, I can always buy another one,” he continued. “And I know that God’s word will go out and, as the Lord says, ‘It will not return void.’ Later in the evening, I saw many students walking around with pages in their hands. Whether reading or mocking, I know that seeds were planted. And I pray that God waters those seeds, saving souls and changing lives for the better.”
