Judge Phil Ginn: ‘This one case is a tipping point in our nation and may well determine to a great extent their recognition of your right to worship God in the marketplace’
May 2, 2022
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Supreme Court recently heard the first oral arguments for Kennedy v. Bremerton in which Coach Joe Kennedy was fired from his assistant football coaching position for praying on the 50-yard line after football games. Kennedy’s legal team argued that the termination “not only violated the First Amendment, but ignored a veritable wall of this court’s precedents that make it clear that a school does not endorse private religious speech just because it fails to censor it.”
Judge Phil Ginn, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary (SES, www.ses.edu), commented on this concerning court case and the potential implications of the ruling on the lives of Christians in America.
Ginn stated, “Coach Kennedy is awaiting the ruling from the Supreme Court, and all Christ-followers everywhere should be paying close attention as well. This one case is a tipping point in our nation and may well determine to a great extent their recognition of your right to worship God as you see fit in the marketplace. While we wait, I urge all of those who love their nation and who are serious about their right to religious freedom to pray — pray long and hard that God will continue to work in the hearts and minds of enough of our leaders in this great country to protect those rights that they have no right to take from us.
“My prayer and hope for Coach Kennedy and all of America,” Judge Ginn went on, “is that when the Supreme Court renders its decision in this case, its ruling will have the same effect for Coach Kennedy as was the case when Daniel was brought up from the lions’ den. Incidentally, we sometimes forget that those who conspired against Daniel were ultimately thrown into the same lions’ den from which Daniel was rescued — and that ‘the lions overpowered them and crushed their bones.’ The God of Coach Kennedy, the same God we proclaim here at SES, can shut and open the mouth of lions. I’m not at all sure that even the Supreme Court has that far-reaching power.”
Judge Phil Ginn was appointed president of SES in April 2021 after a distinguished career as both a lawyer and a judge. He holds a B.A. from Appalachian State University, a J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Doctor of Ministry from Southern Evangelical Seminary. Prior to his appointment as SES president, Judge Ginn served as SES Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
The mission of SES is to train men and women, based on the inerrant and infallible written Word of God, for the evangelization of the world and the defense of the historic Christian faith. SES offers a range of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees (along with several for-credit certificates) that uniquely integrate theology, philosophy, and apologetics to build a complete and systematic Christian worldview.
For more information on SES, visit its website at www.ses.edu or its Facebook page, follow the SES Twitter feed, @sesapologetics, or call (704) 847-5600.
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