An atheist activist group is declaring victory after convincing a Mississippi school district to “reprimand a teacher and update staff training” after the educator reportedly placed prayer cards under kids’ desks.
Listen to the latest episode of CBN’s Quick Start podcast 👇
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a secular activist group based in Madison, Wisconsin, complained to Jackson County School District officials after catching wind of the incident.
“A concerned district community member informed the state/church watchdog that a teacher at East Central Middle School had placed cards with prayers written on them underneath all of the desks in their class during the first week of school,” the FFRF said in a statement. “Upon receiving this news, FFRF … took action to protect students from state-sponsored religious promotion.”
The organization asked the district to investigate and stop all future incidents during which a teacher might use his or her position to “proselytize or encourage prayer going forward.”
The FFRF labeled the prayer card incident a form of religious indoctrination.
“When teachers use their position to push their personal religious beliefs and encourage prayer, it communicates to students and parents that they are outsiders — not full members of the political community — if they do not follow the same religious belief,” the statement added.
The Jackson County School District responded to the FFRF through attorney Jack Pickett, with Pickett proclaiming an investigation into the matter “determined that the conduct complained of did occur” and that the offending teacher was given a letter of reprimand.
In addition to this reprimand, further action was taken to stop future infractions.
“To prevent similar conduct from occurring in the future, a slide show entitled, ‘Religion in Our Schools’ was presented to all school principals in the district to be utilized by them in training all personnel,” Pickett wrote.
The FFRF said these steps are “satisfactory.” Read more about the atheist group’s reactions here.
***As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up for Faithwire’s daily newsletter and download the CBN News app, developed by our parent company, to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***