Arkansas School Pushes Back against Attempt to Ban Prayer
- Updated Oct 06, 2015
An Arkansas county school district is defying accusations that its teachers were unlawfully incorporating prayer and religion into school activities.
The Blaze reports that the Wisconsin-based atheist organization, Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent a letter to school superintendent Jason Sanders of Ashdown School District in Ashdown, Arkansas, notifying Sanders and the district that including prayer at school events was a violation of the Constitution, and specifically accusing a band director of praying before school events.
Sanders, however, maintains that the district has done nothing wrong.
“We feel like that the freedom of our students to express themselves will hold up in a court of law,” he said. “We’re not going to stop any student who wants to exercise their freedom of religious expression such as a prayer.”
Sanders meant what he said.
At a school football game last Friday, dozens of fans, teachers, and students knelt on the field and prayed.
The Blaze reports that most residents of Ashdown seem to be in favor of keeping prayer in the school district, but the FFRF reports that it was a concerned student who contacted the organization, although that student has not been identified.
Susy Dillenger, a fan of the Ashdown football team and an Ashdown resident, stated, “You know, it is terrible when somebody can come from way up north to tell you what you can’t do down here at your school.”
It remains unclear if the FFRF will continue to press the case.
Photo courtesy: Wikipedia
Publication date: October 6, 2015
