The hosts of “The View” are quickly losing confidence that the separation of church and state will be upheld in the United States, given the most recent decisions handed down by the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, Joy Behar even went so far as to say the court is hoping to instate a theocracy.
The assertion came during the discussion of a new Supreme Court decision this week. On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Joseph Kennedy, a Washington state high school football coach, deciding that he had a right to pray on the field after games, with Justice Neil Gorsuch writing for the 6-3 majority that “both the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment protect expressions like Mr. Kennedy’s.”
Kennedy was originally disciplined by the Bremerton School District, who argued that they were trying to avoid the public school appearing to promote any one religious point of view. And, during Monday’s episode of “The View,” the hosts felt pretty confident that if Kennedy practiced a different religion, the ruling might not have gone his way.
“We really have to ask ourselves, are you ready to do this for every religion?” Ana Navarro said. “I live in Miami. And in Miami, there are a lot of people who practice Santeria. Santeria includes, as a religious performance, a religious ritual, killing animals. Are you OK? So ask yourself, are you OK If a Jewish person pulls out a prayer shawl and goes to the middle of the field? Are you OK If a Muslim person pulls out a prayer rug? Are you OK If a Santero pulls out a chicken in the middle of the field? Ask yourselves those questions.”
Meanwhile, host Joy Behar brought things back to Colin Kaepernick, and his choice to kneel during the National Anthem to protest social inequality and police brutality toward Black people. Behar guessed that, even if Kaepernick had said he was praying, he still wouldn’t have gotten the same courtesy awarded to Kennedy.
“He could be praying. How do they know what you’re doing when you take a knee? Doesn’t that look like prayer to you? Suddenly, it’s illegal for him, but it’s OK for this group,” Behar said. “Because the Supreme Court wants a theocracy right now. They don’t know the difference between church and state anymore in this country.”
You can watch the full segment from “The View” in the video above.