The Freedom From Religion Foundation is sounding the alarm over a shocking violation of the separation of state and church in Davidson County Schools (NC), which invited an evangelical Christian band to perform for elementary students during the school day.
This turned a public school into a platform for religious proselytization. To make matters worse, these young and impressionable children were handed Christian devotionals and bible study materials, a blatant attempt to indoctrinate a captive audience, according to FFRF’s legal complaint letter.
A concerned parent alerted the national state/church watchdog that Hasty Elementary School recently hosted a concert by the 3 Heath Brothers, a self-described “boy band of Christian music,” subjecting kindergarten through fifth-grade students to religious proselytization during the school day. Parents were given no prior notice about the performance, during which the brothers sang nine songs with explicitly Christian messages, including lyrics such as, “Just let Jesus use you where you are” and “Loving God and loving people, that’s what it’s all about.”
At the elementary school event, students were also handed Keys for Kids devotional pamphlets produced by a youth ministry that aims “to ignite a passion for Christ in kids, teens, and families worldwide.” These pamphlets contain explicitly religious stories and bible references.
The 3 Heath Brothers openly boast about targeting public schools, claiming they are “sharing Jesus in a place where it’s needed most.” They report having performed in over 100 public schools and reaching more than 50,000 students.
“The district cannot allow outside religious groups to treat public schools as a mission field,” FFRF Staff Attorney Madeline Ziegler wrote Davidson County Schools Superintendent Gregg Slate. “FFRF takes these violations seriously. We settled a lawsuit against a West Virginia school district after it allowed a preacher to hold a proselytizing assembly during the school day.”
Using instructional time to subject a captive audience of the youngest students to religious preaching is not only unconstitutional but also deeply exclusionary to non-Christian students and families.
“Public schools exist to educate, not to evangelize,” says FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott. “Forcing elementary students to sit through a Christian concert and handing them religious materials is a flagrant violation of the Establishment Clause. Davidson County Schools must ensure this never happens again.”
FFRF is urging the district to take immediate corrective action to prevent future violations and protect the constitutional rights of all students.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with nearly 42,000 members nationwide, including more than 900 members in North Carolina. FFRF’s purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
