Christian Group Gives “Rosa Parks” Award to Coach Who Pushed His Faith on Religious Minorities

Joe Kennedy is the former assistant football coach at Bremerton High School in Washington. He’s better known as the guy who continued to pray on the field despite several warnings that he was violating the law. In December, the District said they wouldn’t be renewing his contract.

Kennedy recently received the “Rosa Parks Courage Award” from a Christian organization that clearly has no clue who Rosa Parks was.

To go into a bit more detail, back in September, when Kennedy was told that he couldn’t lead prayers with his team, he quickly decided he wanted to be the next Kim Davis, acting as if his religious freedom was under attack. He threatened to pray on the field anyway, making a high school football game all about him. District officials told him to stop it. Kennedy threatened to sue. Even The Satanic Temple got involved by telling everyone that they had an on-field prayer ready to go if Kennedy went through with one of his own. It was just a huge spectacle all around. And after granting him a paid leave, the District got rid of him and his martyr ways for good.

Last Friday, the Family Policy Institute of Washington, a conservative Christian group, awarded Kennedy the “Rosa Parks Courage Award”:

“It’s so appropriate that the namesake for this award is Rosa Parks, somebody who exhibited tremendous courage in the face of opposition,” said Mike Berry, Senior Counsel for First Liberty. “Like Rosa Parks, Kennedy has shown great courage and determination despite fierce government opposition. He has continued to stand strong for his faith and constitutional freedom.”

Riiiiiight. A guy who insisted on pushing his majority religious views on everyone else got an award named after the woman who stood up for the civil rights of the oppressed minority.

Kennedy shouldn’t be getting this award. It should be given to the poor students who had to listen to his tripe for years.