The Freedom From Religion Foundation has successfully persuaded the Newton (Iowa) Community School District to correct an unconstitutional foul.
On Nov. 26 of last year, a video of the Newton High School Girls Basketball team was posted on the team’s official Facebook account, at the beginning of which the entire team prayed with the head coach.
It is a basic constitutional principle that public schools may not show favoritism toward or coerce belief or participation in religion, FFRF underscored in a letter to the school district.
“Posting videos of religious worship on official social media accounts promotes religion over nonreligion and Christianity over all other faiths,” Patrick O’Reiley Legal Fellow Hirsh M. Joshi wrote to Newton Community School District Superintendent Tom Messinger. “Promoting religious worship on social media sends the message to minority religious and nonreligious citizens ‘that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and an accompanying message to … adherents that they are insiders, favored members of the political community,’” to quote the U.S. Supreme Court.
Government religious speech promoting Christian viewpoints marginalizes and excludes non-Christian students, teachers, and parents whose religious beliefs are inconsistent with the message being promoted by the school staff, including the 37 percent of non-Christian Americans, the almost 30 percent who are nonreligious Americans and the almost half of Gen Z who are “Nones” (religiously unaffiliated), FFRF added.
FFRF asked the district to investigate, delete the video and counsel its staff to refrain from praying with students and promoting religious worship using official district channels. Its reasoning proved to be a slam dunk with the school district.
“You are correct that the Establishment Clause requires that the District not take actions respecting the establishment of religion,” the superintendent recently replied. “The district is aware of its obligations in this regard, and appreciates the purpose underlying this important constitutional provision.”
The letter went on to detail all the district has done to comply with FFRF’s request, including removing the video and reviewing it with the relevant staff.
FFRF is glad the school district was willing to be coached on the Constitution.
“We always appreciate it when school districts are eager to correct their constitutional violations,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “The superintendent has graciously acknowledged that our letter initiated the correction.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with more than 40,000 members across the country, including hundreds of members in Iowa. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
Photo by Gene Gallin on Unsplash
