For 51 years, atheists used “the Lemon Test” to bar the 10 Commandments, nativity scenes, and all other forms of religious expression from the public square. The light of Christianity, though not extinguished, was hidden under a bushel for five decades.

Our case, Shurtleff v. Boston, and our matching brief in Kennedy v. Bremerton, DESTROYED the Lemon Test once and for all!

In 2008, Coach Joe Kennedy promised God he would pray and give thanks after each game he coached, regardless of the outcome. He would simply drop to one knee and “offer a silent or quiet prayer of thanksgiving for player safety, sportsmanship, and spirited competition.” He did this for many years without any complaints, and as time went on, members of the community and players often joined him.

In 2015, the school district ordered Kennedy to stop his post-game prayers, stating his practice violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, citing the 1971 so-called Lemon Test. Then, the Bremerton, WA, School District FIRED Coach Kennedy.

The district used the same false argument as Boston to unlawfully discriminate against Camp Constitution in our “Christian flag” case. In Shurtleff v. City of Boston, the city would allow the same flag if Hal Shurtleff deemed it secular. A “Camp Constitution flag,” with the same image, was fine. A “Christian flag” was not.

So, too, with Coach Kennedy. If he kneeled on the field and thought secular thoughts, that was permitted. But silent Christian thoughts were not. The governments in both cases used the 1971 Lemon Test arguing that they had to censor Christian speech and exercise of religion. They were wrong!

In our Christian flag case that I argued before the High Court, Boston said the private speech of Camp Constitution was actually “government speech.” Yet, Boston allowed every other viewpoint on its public forum flagpole — except Christian viewpoints. On May 2, 2022, the Court ruled 9-0 in our favor.

Coach Kennedy’s case was the same song, different verse. The facts in both cases were essentially the same — government censorship of religious viewpoints using the Lemon Test as justification.

Since founding Liberty Counsel in 1989, we fought to overturn the judicial activist Lemon Test that perverted the Establishment Clause and caused incredible damage to America. Lemon is now dead!

The Justices referred to our Christian flag case in the Coach Kennedy opinion, saying: “In fact, just this Term the Court unanimously rejected a city’s attempt to censor religious speech based on Lemon and the endorsement test (See Shurtleff, 596 U.S.).”

The High Court also wrote, “Respect for religious expressions is indispensable to life in a free and diverse Republic—whether those expressions take place in a sanctuary or on a field, and whether they manifest through the spoken word or a bowed head.”

“Here, a government entity sought to punish an individual for engaging in a brief, quiet, personal religious observance doubly protected by the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment. And the only meaningful justification the government offered for its reprisal rested on a mistaken view that it had a duty to ferret out and suppress religious observances even as it allows comparable secular speech. The Constitution neither mandates nor tolerates that kind of discrimination.”

Praise God for a High Court that has reversed the errors of previous “activist” judges and Justices! The Supreme Court has restored the First Amendment, preserving the right to religious freedom and speech!

In our 35 years, Liberty Counsel has won 37 cases we have argued and/or briefed before the U.S. Supreme Court, and countless other cases before state courts and the Courts of Appeals.

Liberty Counsel’s victories will have generational impact protecting the right to life, religious freedom, and the natural family.

New challenges to our nation’s most fundamental freedoms arise every single day. Liberty Counsel is ready and willing to fight, but only YOUR SUPPORT makes it possible for us to preserve freedom.

We have just days left to match a special 125,000 Matching Grant. This is an “all or nothing” grant. We must raise 125,000 in donations by midnight September 30 to receive this gift. Please, help push us over the top with your gift today!

Mat Staver
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel