FFRF stops distribution of religious materials at Tennessee school (June 7, 2012)

Lewis County Intermediate School (Hohenwald, Tenn.) will stop teachers from handing out religious materials in the classroom.

A local parent contacted FFRF after his fifth grade student came home with a bible and a permission slip for summer vacation bible school on separate occasions. FFRF Staff Attorney Stephanie Schmitt wrote to Director of Schools Benjamin L. Pace taking issue with these unconstitutional violations. “Public schools have a constitutional obligation to remain neutral toward religion,” Schmitt wrote in a May 23 letter. “When a school distributes religious literature to its students, it has unconstitutionally entangled itself with a religious message, in this case a Christian message.”

Pace responded on June 7, saying the district would re-visit materials that had been sent out and assuring FFRF that “we are ever aware of the constitutional protection of religious freedom.”