Photo by Dave Adamson on Unsplash
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has ensured that the Pequot Lakes (Minn.) Public Schools system will be free of outside pastor participation at a student-led club.
A concerned district parent informed FFRF that an outside youth minister was leading the Pequot Lakes Middle School chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). The pastor reportedly preached at each organization meeting while also controlling student participation.
“Schools cannot constitutionally allow religious organizations to treat schools as a recruiting ground for their religious mission,” FFRF Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow Kyle Steinberg wrote to the district.
It is well settled that public schools may not show favoritism toward or coerce belief or participation in religion, FFRF emphasized. A public school may not give outside religious representatives special access to students to promote religion and proselytize students, including leading students in religious activities during school-sponsored meetings.
Further, the school district may not allow outside adults or organizations to lead, organize or regularly participate in “student” religious clubs. The Equal Access Act dictates the limited extent to which religious clubs may exist in secondary schools. Outside adults cannot regularly attend Fellowship of Christian Athletes activities and any school staff in attendance may only participate in a supervisory capacity. This pastor’s involvement in FCA violated these restrictions.
Thankfully, FFRF’s letter wasn’t ignored — and corrective action was taken.
“We have informed the FCA leadership that non-school adults may not attend FCA meetings on a regular basis,” Pequot Lakes Public Schools Superintendent Kurt Stumpf has written back. “We have also emphasized that FCA clubs must be student-initiated and the club meetings must be led by students.”
FFRF is pleased to see a school district willing to responsibly remedy its actions.
“A pastor or other evangelists may not be allowed unobstructed access to a captive audience of public school students,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor states. “The district has made the right call to abide by the Constitution.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with more than 40,000 members and several chapters across the country, including over 900 members and two chapters in Minnesota. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
