The Freedom From Religion Foundation is demanding that the Fayette County Public Schools system immediately stop allowing pastors from a local church to proselytize middle school students through school-sponsored activities.
A concerned community member has informed the state/church watchdog that pastors from the Southern Heights Baptist Church have been proselytizing students at Jessie Clark Middle School by allegedly allowing two pastors from the church to lead the school Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter. An official post from the Southern Heights Baptist Church Facebook page shared that on April 16, the pastors led an FCA meeting for students at the middle school and that “three students gave their lives to Christ.” Additionally, the middle school named one of the pastors a “character coach” for the middle school lacrosse team, apparently to encourage “growth in character, leadership and faith as they develop as athletes and individuals.”
FFRF is urging the district to investigate these reports and, if confirmed, immediately end the unconstitutional arrangement.
“Students in secondary schools may organize religious clubs, but these must be entirely student-initiated and student-led and take place during noninstructional time,” FFRF Patrick O’Reiley Legal Fellow Charlotte R. Gude has written to the school district’s chief legal officer.
It is inappropriate and unconstitutional for the district to allow staff members or an outside adult to lead a religious club for students, FFRF emphasizes. Public schools may not show favoritism toward, or coerce, belief in or participation in religion. Here, it appears that Fellowship for Christian Athletes meetings are led by the pastors, violating both the First Amendment and the Equal Access Act.
Student-athletes are especially susceptible to unconstitutional coercion. Students know their coaches control their playing time and positions, directly affecting opportunities for scholarships and recruitment. When coaches and the school allow an outside adult to serve as a “character coach” to the lacrosse team as part of official team activities, student-athletes will no doubt feel that going along with religious activities, interacting with the “character coach,” and at least appearing to agree with the person’s religious beliefs is essential to pleasing their coaches and being viewed as a team player. It is unrealistic and unconstitutional to put student-athletes in the position of choosing between allowing their school to violate their constitutional rights to maintain good standing in the eyes of their coach and peers, or openly dissenting at the risk of retaliation or isolation.
And by allowing this proselytization, Jessie Clark Middle School needlessly marginalizes students, families and community members who are nonreligious or who belong to minority religions that do not follow Christianity. As much as 38 percent of the American population is non-Christian, including the almost 30 percent who are nonreligious. More than half of Generation Z (those born after 1996) is non-Christian, including 43 percent who are nonreligious. The school district should strive to be welcoming and inclusive of all students, not just those who subscribe to a particular brand of Christianity.
The school district must investigate the situation and ensure that Jessie Clark Middle School ceases granting religious representatives access to students for the purpose of proselytizing them.
“Public schools are not recruiting grounds for local churches,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor says. “Students have the constitutional right to decide for themselves what religious beliefs, if any, they will embrace. School officials should never use their positions to give pastors privileged access to impressionable students.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With more than 41,000 members and chapters across the country, including hundreds of members and a chapter in Kentucky, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
