It’s #unconstitutional for public school systems to promote religion in classrooms and at sporting events. Yet this issue keeps coming up. In Smith County, the parents of two different atheist families with students in the district complained about school policies that incorporated prayer into school events. We send our children to school to learn subjects like math and economics, and every American deserves to know that their students will be free from proselytizing and religious iconography in classrooms and halls.

In 2020, the American Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of the two families, sued the Smith County School System for unconstitutionally imposing religion on students. They said that by allowing people to pray en masse at assemblies and school events, the district was violating the law.

The Smith County Board of Education admitted that its own internal investigation revealed some of the plaintiff’s allegations to be true. A month later, they settled the case and the court issued a consent decree that school officials may not incorporate #prayer into school events, pray with students or encourage or promote student prayer. 

The school board paid a symbolic $1.00 to both of the families, in addition to paying attorneys' fees. While they did not make a formal admission of wrongdoing, it is clear by this action that the school board recognizes that they were at fault.

The ruling is a victory for religious freedom that will hopefully establish a precedent for similar cases elsewhere. Individual students, teachers and other school employees – acting on their own – have the right to practice their religion, but public schools should not be a battleground for religious coercion of any kind. When it’s on public school time and on public school property in Nashville, forcibly imparting religion is unconstitutional and forbidden.