SCHOOL PRAYER: The Freedom from Religion Foundation provided this image from a Facebook post showing Prescott Elementary students praying at lunch. (Image provided by the Freedom for Religion Foundation)

The Freedom from Religion Foundation has cautioned the Prescott School District about two recent instances of what the organization said were unallowable exercises of religion in public schools. 

The church-state watchdog group raised concerns about two of the district’s Facebook posts, including one in which said students had received copies of the New Testament at school and another in which students were praying with adults at a school lunch table. 

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The posts are no longer on the district’s Facebook page. 

“Quit imposing Christianity on elementary school children,” the organization said in the statement. 

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On May 4, the school district posted a picture of students reading copies of the New Testament, stating “This is a sight that should make anyone happy! Our 5th and 6th grade students received New Testament Bibles today and were reading them at lunch and even on the bus this afternoon. God is so good!” 

In a separate post, the school district posted a photo of students praying at a lunch with adults nearby. “Our sweet little PreK students praying before they eat lunch! At Prescott, we pray.” The Freedom from Religion Foundation said the faculty and staff were leading the prayer and had encouraged the students to pray. 

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The Freedom from Religion Foundation told the district in a letter dated May 11 that the district should investigate the matter and to “ensure that Prescott Elementary School immediately cease praying with students and refrain from distributing religious literature to students in the future.” 

In the letter, the organization said it is unconstitutional for public elementary schools to distribute Bibles in classrooms during the school day. The letter also states that the U.S. Supreme Court has “continually struck down” prayer led by teachers or students in public schools. 

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Here’s the full press release from the Freedom from Religion Foundation: 

Quit imposing Christianity on elementary schoolchildren, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is insisting to an Arkansas school district.

Numerous Arkansas citizens have informed the state/church watchdog that Prescott Elementary School recently distributed New Testament Bibles to its fifth and sixth grade students. A May 4 post on the official Prescott School District Facebook page stated:

This is a sight that should make anyone happy! It sure does us! Our 5th and 6th grade students received New Testament Bibles today and were reading them at lunch and even on the bus this afternoon. God is so good!

The faculty and staff at Prescott Elementary School have also led pre-kindergarten students in prayer and encouraged them to pray. Another recent post on the official district Facebook page states:

Our sweet little PreK students praying before they eat lunch! At Prescott, we pray.

“The First Amendment of the Constitution dictates that public schools may not show favoritism toward or coerce belief or participation in religion,” FFRF Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow Samantha Lawrence writes to Prescott School District Superintendent Robert Poole. “When a public elementary school’s faculty and staff lead students in prayer, encourage students to pray, and distribute bibles to students, the district displays blatant favoritism towards Christianity and coerces elementary school students to participate in a religious exercise and accept religious literature.”

It is unconstitutional for public school districts to allow the distribution of bibles in classrooms during the school day, FFRF emphasizes. Courts uniformly have held the distribution of bibles to students at public schools during instructional time is prohibited. Additionally, bible distributions needlessly alienate and exclude those students who are a part of the 49 percent of Generation Z that is religiously unaffiliated.

Furthermore, public school faculty and staff may not lead their students in prayer, encourage or coerce students to pray, or participate in student-initiated prayer. The Supreme Court has continually struck down teacher or school-led prayer in public schools. These students are young, impressionable and eager to please their teachers and fit in with their peers. When fifth and sixth grade students see their peers taking and reading bibles, it is only logical that they will take one and read it to fit in; when faculty and staff lead pre-kindergarten students in prayer or encourage them to pray, students that young will no doubt take that as a command that they must obey.

It is important to note that this case is readily distinguishable from the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. In Bremerton, the court held that a high school football coach’s silent, private post-game prayer was constitutional. In stark contrast, faculty and staff at Prescott Elementary School have actively led pre-kindergarten students in prayers.

In order to protect the First Amendment rights of all Prescott Elementary School students and respect the constitutional rights of parents, the school district must ensure that Prescott Elementary’s faculty and staff cease leading students in prayer, encouraging students to pray and distributing religious literature to students, FFRF insists.

“Such a blatant foisting of sectarian religion upon a captive audience of young and impressionable schoolchildren is beyond disturbing,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “It shows a complete disregard for those in the community with minority and nonreligious backgrounds — and for our secular Constitution.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with more than 40,000 members and several chapters across the country, including hundreds of members and a local chapter in Arkansas. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.