Ex-Atheist's Prayer Battle Leads to Monumental Religious Liberty Win

Joe Kennedy, the high school football coach who won a major Supreme Court victory in his battle to pray at the 50-yard line, will see his harrowing story come to the big screen this week. The film "Average Joe" hits theaters Oct. 11 and will cover Kennedy's personal story as well as his journey to taking a "stand for God publicly" and "taking a knee in prayer after each game," according to a synopsis. The movie follows the release of Kennedy's book last year titled "Average Joe: One Man's Faith and the Fight to Change a Nation." Both projects touch on Kennedy's seven years in a volleying legal battle with the Bremerton School District in Washington state, which ultimately led to the 6-3 Supreme Court ruling in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District in June 2022 — a decision that upheld his right to pray after games, and found the government should not punish private religious acts like prayer. "I wanted everybody to see from the beginning where I came from," Kennedy told CBN News of these efforts. "Unwanted pregnancy, foster homes — all of that — the backstory, to see what led me to be the guy to stand up for what was right and what has happened since then." Kennedy's life hasn't been easy, as he was in the foster care system and struggled with anger during his earlier years. Before prayer became his anchor, he was an atheist with little interest in anything eternal. "It was really my wife," he said of his journey into faith. "I was failing as a husband." Kennedy continued, "Everywhere I went, I seemed to just wreck people's lives." At the time, his wife, Denise, who was a Christian, started to rub off on him. With his life "disintegrating" in front of him, he had to make a decision: to continue on the same destructive path — or embrace faith. "I finally went to church with her and, as things were rapidly falling apart, I had no other place to turn and I fell onto the altar and I kind of made a deal with God," Kennedy said. "I said, 'God, if you give me my wife, I'll give you my life.'" That commitment stuck and transformed his marriage. Beyond that, it led Kennedy to tackle the years-long legal battle that expanded religious rights for all Americans.