Students forced to attend preaching during school hours

 In 2022, a school district in West Virginia adopted a policy that effectively required yearly training on religious freedom as part of a lawsuit settlement, which was in response to many students being forced to attend an evangelical preacher's revival assembly during the school day. All of this happened in Cabell County, West Virginia, whose board of education claimed that it was “not the province of a public school to either inhibit, or advance, religious beliefs or practices.” There were in fact four separate families in this town of Huntington, West Virginia that sued the district in 2022, and accused the school system of having a history of disregarding the religious freedom of its students and inculcating Christian religious practices among their students. In this particular lawsuit, there were two Huntington High School teachers who had escorted their entire homeroom classes to a large assembly hosted by evangelical preacher named Nik Walker, who had consistently been leading revivals nearby.

There were a panoply of students who reported this, including a Jewish student who once requested permission to leave the preaching but was denied, and was instead directed to shut his eyes and lift his arms in prayer with his fellow students. This is outlined in the lawsuit so presumably it did indeed happen, as sworn in affidavits. There were even some students who were urged to “dedicate their lives to Jesus for purpose and salvation,” with a warning that any non adherents would face eternal torment. The lawsuit even describes scenarios where not only students, but also their families were prompted to participate in evening services at a nearby church, where baptism was offered. This became such a blatant violation of the students’ religious freedom that they ended up having a walkout at the high school, hundreds of students protested and chanted “My faith, my choice,” as well as “Separate the church and state.” 

The school board lawyer in this case was a man named Brian Morrison, and he claimed that the event was promoted in school announcements as a sort of voluntary gathering organized by the FCA which is the fellowship of christian athletes. Morrison also noted that the two teachers who brought their entire homeroom were either confused or just misunderstood. And although the school board already technically had their own policy on religious freedom, Morrison pointed out that it now includes more clear and emphatic language The upshot here is clearly to make it seem impossible to interpret the school boards policy as anything but completely in accordance with the principle of separation of church and state. The new policy mandates the district superintendent and principals to make good-faith efforts to monitor school-sponsored activities for policy compliance. Principals also have to report potential violations of the updated policy to the superintendent within a week at least, by which point the superintendent may opt to have the issue further investigated. 

The confusing element of this story is that as part of the settlement, each family received up to $1 from the district. However the actual student plaintiffs were granted a $2,000 scholarship from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which was the nonprofit that had represented them. It was also reported, so long as we're concerned with the financial aspect of it all, that the board's insurer covered almost $175,000 in legal fees. The general consensus among the parents seemed to be overall satisfaction. A local news outlet 13 News, asked a parent named Herman Mays, whose child was forced to attend the revivals, said he was happy with the settlement, and that he felt it led to meaningful policy changes, enforcement, as well as sufficient training to prevent a recurrence of the events that occurred in the school district.

I agree with the outcome of this case and I think the school's response was very professional and took into account the complaints of both the students and the parents. The most egregious part to me is the teachers allowing preachers to taunt students with the image of hell, threatening that their fates lie in an eternity of conscious torment in fire if not to submit to their authority. Obviously, this case is a good example of the American legal system achieving a settlement that lies in accordance with the religious principles upon which this country was founded from the constitution to the Treaty of Tripoli. However, I think it's worthy of note that these preachers and the teachers that supported their actions, were not only acting against secular democratic principles, but religious ones too. In this country, you reserve the right to believe whatever you want, and a key theme of this class is answering the question “do people have the right to be wrong.” But the reason these preachers were wrong in my view is because they deprived these students by the hundreds, of the chance to take their own leap of faith. Peter denied Jesus three times on the eve of his crucifixion, and Jesus let him do it. Jesus himself had the choice when he was in the desert for forty days. He could have chosen otherwise. He decided, as will we, whether or not to give our lives to the father though the son, or to live freely as we wish. And they robbed these students of that.

Sources: https://www.wowktv.com/news/west-virginia/cabell-county-wv/west-virginia-school-system-mandates-religious-training-following-revival-assembly-lawsuit/

https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/west-virginia-school-system-mandates-religious-training-following-revival-assembly-lawsuit/