Bremen City Schools in Georgia canceled a prayer walk in an elementary school after FFRF fought to protect students’ First Amendment rights.
A concerned parent reported that the district had planned to allow outside adults to enter Jones Elementary School on April 21 in order to hold a “prayer walk.”
FFRF was informed that this was not the first time the school had inappropriately blurred the lines between church and state. The complainant stated that they and their family are members of a minority faith and that their child is “constantly being othered in [their] own classroom.” The complainant reported that the school permits students to bully their child by regularly telling their child that they are “going to hell.” The complainant was upset that Jones Elementary was planning to allow outside adults to hold a Christian prayer walk in the school building and include their child’s name in a religious ritual that they do not believe in.
FFRF Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow Sammi Lawrence wrote to the district, telling it that by allowing outside adults to host a prayer walk in one of its elementary schools, the district displayed blatant favoritism toward religion over nonreligion.
In a letter from Pereira, Kirby, Kinsinger & Nguyen LLP, legal representative for the district, Cory O. Kirby informed FFRF that the district had taken action: “The principal has decided not to allow a prayer walk through the school.”
