FFRF victories (September 2026)
By Greg Fletcher
FFRF, as a national state/church watchdog, proudly offers its members (as well as the public) the opportunity (at no cost) to report state/church violations (ffrf.org/legal/report-church-state/). If actionable, FFRF attorneys will send a legal complaint letter as resources permit. Through such actions, FFRF typically ends 200 state/church violations or more annually. Freethought Today reports representative samplings of these victories. FFRF’s legal team also oversees FFRF’s substantial litigation and its legislative team oversees public policy violations. Find out what your donation to FFRF’s legal fund supports at: ffrf.org/misc/legal.
Alabama
FFRF worked to ensure that Mobile County Public Schools in Alabama would no longer promote Christian holidays via official social media channels.
A community member reported that on April 5, the official Alma Bryant High School Facebook account posted an image celebrating Easter. The post read “Happy Easter” with a prominent Latin cross on it.
“The high school’s promotion of one religion’s holy day on its official social media signals that it favors religion over nonreligion, and, in this case, Christianity over all other faiths,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote.
After receiving FFRF’s letter, the district’s legal counsel, Frank G. Taylor, confirmed that the law firm “addressed this matter with the school.”
Alabama
The Prattville Parks & Recreation Department took action to ensure that coaches would no longer be forcing youth softball players in the city to recite an explicitly Christian prayer at the end of games and practices.
A concerned parent reported that the city’s softball league had been requiring youth players to recite the Lord’s Prayer. On or around April 11, the softball league’s opening day ceremony commenced with a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer led by the city council’s president, and FFRF understood that all players present were expected to participate in the prayer. Additionally, the complainant stated that “most games and practices are concluded with forced prayer, requiring all players to circle and hold hands,” and the prayers are “led by umpires and coaches.” Reportedly, a coach told players, including youth players, that they “needed to go home and learn the Lord’s Prayer because they weren’t reciting it well enough.”
“The fact that the city is requiring youth players to learn and recite the Lord’s Prayer is particularly concerning,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote. “Youth-athletes are especially susceptible to coercion, and the relationship between youths and their coaches is inherently ripe for coercion.”
After receiving the letter, Parks and Recreation Director Kellie Carter emailed FFRF to assure that the prayers would be halted. “Prattville Parks and Recreation Department does not and will not require, organize, coerce or direct the recitation of prayers by participants, coaches, officials or staff during league activities,” she wrote.
Alabama
The Mt. Pleasant Senior Center in Enterprise, Ala., will not force seniors to participate in a pre-meal prayer after FFRF pointed out the violation of seniors’ rights.
A senior center attendee reported that during meals at the center, the manager of the center, acting in her official capacity as a senior center employee, would stand up and call on a senior to pray and bless the food before patrons eat. The prayers were routinely given in the name of Jesus Christ.
“Coercing seniors to participate in public prayer doesn’t just violate federal law, it also violates our citizens’ rights to be free from religious proselytizing,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote.
The legal representative for the center, Rod Morgan, wrote back to FFRF to confirm that the concerns had been addressed. “I further explained that any prayer must be voluntary and initiated by one of the seniors, that no county employee or volunteer could call for, prompt or initiate a prayer,” Morgan wrote. “I ensured that they understood that they have the right, and indeed are welcome, to pray silently or audibly, so long as it is of their own volition.”
Arizona
The Colorado City USD in Arizona changed a longstanding practice of including prayer in graduation ceremonies after FFRF stood up on behalf of students who had been ignored by the school board.
A student at El Capitan High School stated that the district and its governing board had a pattern and practice of mandating prayer at the school’s graduation ceremony. The student said the invocation and benediction have been “a mandatory practice for all previous graduation years.” The district planned to include prayers at the June 3 graduation, evidenced by the ceremony program that was given to participating students in advance. A copy of the program provided to FFRF showed that two students had been selected ahead of time to lead the entire audience, including fellow students, in an invocation and benediction.
The student also reported that a number of El Capitan High School’s graduating students complained to the district and governing board about the mandatory prayers. Reportedly, the governing board resisted removing the prayers, and a board member stated at a meeting that “It is the school’s graduation, not the students’”
Due to complaints, the district and governing board altered the 2026 graduation program, with the entire audience and students being led in a school-sponsored prayer “before the ceremony started” and that the prayer was “optional.”
After receiving a letter from FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence stating this alteration was still unconstitutional, Superintendent Carol Timpson confirmed that the district had taken action. “Our board consulted with the district attorney and consequently removed prayer from the program,” Timpson wrote. “They have also adopted a graduation template to be used each year going forward that begins the program with a moment of silence rather than prayer.”
Florida
The Escambia County Public Schools system in Pensacola, Fla., has taken corrective action to ensure that future senior graduation breakfasts will not include a prayer before the event, after the principal “blessed” the food at a May gathering.
A local parent reported that on May 18, West Florida High School’s principal led students in prayer at a school-sponsored senior grad breakfast. The parent stated that while students were congregating in the school’s gym before the breakfast and ceremony rehearsal, the principal announced that “before we eat breakfast, we are going to bless our food real quick.” She then allegedly asked students to “bow their heads,” and then she blessed the food, blessed the students and blessed their families. The parent further explained that “many students found [the prayer] odd and misplaced. Even stranger as it was in the gym before the food was present.” Finally, the students reportedly felt that participating in the prayer was mandatory.
“Even if the principal had told students that the prayer was voluntary, that would not fix the situation,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote. “Voluntariness is not a safeguard against violating students’ First Amendment rights.”
After receiving the letter, Superintendent Keith Leonard conducted an investigation into the situation. Leonard wrote, “I have provided direction regarding appropriate next steps. The district remains committed to safeguarding the constitutional rights of all our students.” Leonard also stated that he would address the matters with all administrators during an upcoming annual pre-school administrative conference and through ongoing professional development sessions throughout the year.
Florida
FFRF helped Alachua County Public Schools put an end to a practice and pattern of starting the Citizen of the Year Award ceremony with an invocation.
FFRF received a report that the district’s May 27 Citizen of the Year Award ceremony included a prayer event. Though the local Kiwanis Club assisted with the event, the district was responsible for selecting students to receive the award, and the district advertised and appeared to help organize the ceremony. Taken together, the district’s actions and involvement heavily suggested that the Citizen of the Year Award ceremony was, at least in a significant part, a school-sponsored event.
Per official video of the event, the invocation occurred during the award ceremony with students, family members and district employees in attendance, and the invocation was overtly Christian. This allegedly also occurred in 2023 and 2024.
“Inserting prayer into an awards ceremony meant to honor outstanding students forces those students and their families to choose between attending or remaining at the ceremony and participating in a prayer that they do not believe in or exiting the ceremony in order to avoid violating their conscience,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote.
After receiving the letter, the district conducted an investigation. The district’s legal representative confirmed that positive action had been taken. “The entity who delivered the prayer will not be involved in this event in the future,” district representative Patrick J. Duggan wrote. “As a result, we do not expect any issues moving forward.”
Florida
FFRF ensured that the Orange County Public Schools system put a stop to a religious club being led by an outside representative from the Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU).
A district member reported that the CRU Club at Timber Springs Middle School was being led, organized and run entirely by adults, not students. The complainant stated that CRU is “operating a structured religious recruitment program in our school with the involvement of multiple staff members” and an outside adult CRU representative.
CRU Club flyers were reportedly posted throughout the middle school, and the flyers directed interested students to scan a QR code, which led to a Google form. At the top of the form, the club explained, “At CRU club, everyone is welcome to gather and learn more about Jesus. Whether you consider yourself a Christian or not, you and your friends are invited to come, listen, ask questions, and eat pizza (lunch) or donuts (Friday mornings)! We hope to see you at one of our meetings.”
FFRF contacted the district in hopes of putting a stop to the club.
“As the district is aware, public schools may not permit outside adults or organizations to lead, organize or regularly participate in ‘student’ religious clubs, including CRU Club,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote.
The school principal confirmed that teachers were informed that this is not allowed and that CRU will have to be disbanded because of it.
Kansas
FFRF ensured that a teacher from the Leavenworth USD would no longer be allowed to abuse his position to preach his personal religion and retaliate against a student who did not align with it.
A district parent reported that a chemistry teacher at Leavenworth High School was retaliating against a student for disagreeing with his personal religious beliefs. Reportedly, on Dec. 15, 2025, the teacher lectured his sophomore chemistry class on the bible after the parent’s child made a joke about the “6/7” meme. In response to the student’s joke, the teacher allegedly told students that the “real meaning” of the meme is based on Christianity, and that “6/7 refers to how God created the world on the sixth day and rested on the seventh.”
The parent reported that several days after the incident, the teacher accused their child of cheating on a test and gave the student a “zero” as their grade. After the parent called and spoke to the school’s principal, the teacher changed the student’s grade to a “D.” Further, the teacher had previously told his class that chemistry “proves that God exists” and that he cannot understand why atheists do not believe in God. In previous years, others have reportedly complained about the teacher lecturing students about religion during class.
“Here, [the teacher] has crossed the constitutional line by sermonizing to his students during chemistry class and allegedly retaliating against [the student] for making a joke that he disagreed with on religious grounds,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote to the district.
In response to the letter, the district’s attorney called FFRF directly. He confirmed that the district “thoroughly addressed” the situation and the issue should not happen again. The attorney additionally stated that he was open to any follow-up questions from either FFRF or the parent.
Minnesota
FFRF saw corrective action taken at the Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) in Minneapolis after a patient reported being repeatedly contacted by a religious chaplain despite declining spiritual care.
A patient reported that, in fall 2025, they received multiple visits from an HCMC chaplain, despite repeatedly informing staff that they did not want to speak to a chaplain. Specifically, the complainant stated that when they were receiving in-patient care at HCMC in October 2025, they explicitly told a nurse they did not wish to see the chaplain after the chaplain’s first attempt at a visit. FFRF was told that the chaplain again visited the complainant against their wishes. Per MyChart records provided by the patient to FFRF, the chaplain also made outpatient calls to the complainant on Nov. 4 and Dec. 9, 2025. The complainant stated that the chaplain had still been listed as one of their providers by HCMC, despite having told staff and the chaplain that they did not wish to speak to or see a chaplain.
“Allowing a chaplain to continue to attempt to speak to a patient in direct violation of the patient’s express wishes needlessly marginalized our complainant,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote to the hospital.
FFRF is pleased to report that HCMC has renewed its dedication to protecting patients from religious coercion.
In an email to FFRF, HCMC Compliance Director Pameal Sandquist confirmed that the chaplain has been identified, and “the contract with this vendor has been terminated. Current employed Spiritual Care Providers have been reminded of the importance of following our processes, especially when a patient declines services.” Sandquist thanked FFRF for reporting the issue.
Missouri
The Alton R-IV School District in Ash Grove, Mo., took FFRF’s advice and agreed not to advertise religious graduation events via official school channels.
A district parent reported that Ash Grover High School sponsored and advertised a baccalaureate ceremony on May 13. The school advertised and promoted the ceremony alongside official school graduation events on its official Ash Grove High School Facebook page. The advertisement included a quote from the bible as well as a photograph from the church where the ceremony took place. The event was also added to the official online school calendar.
The program featured the school’s logo and trademark colors. The program’s design, along with the persistent promotion by the school, strongly suggested that the school was involved in organizing the baccalaureate ceremony and may have contributed school resources or staff time to the event.
After receiving a letter from FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence, the district reached out to legal representative Emily Omohundro. Omohundro informed FFRF that the district did not sponsor or plan the event. “The district did not intend for this advertisement to convey a favoritism toward religion over nonreligion, and Christianity above all faiths,” she wrote. “Going forward, the district agrees that it will no longer share information regarding this event or include it on the district’s school calendar so as to avoid any indication of sponsorship or involvement in this event by the district.”
New Jersey
FFRF’s work saw the Gloucester City Public Schools system remove opening invocations from future Gloucester City Middle School’s National Junior Honor Society induction ceremonies.
A district parent informed FFRF that during Gloucester City Middle School’s National Junior Honor Society induction ceremony on May 7, the school invited a pastor to perform two prayers, an invocation and a benediction. During the ceremony, the pastor repeatedly directed the audience to participate in the prayer and to say “Amen.” The parent stated that they were uncomfortable and upset when the pastor was brought in to conduct a prayer, but felt forced to stay as they did not want to miss or ruin an important milestone for their child. Parents and students were reportedly not informed ahead of time that the ceremony would involve prayer.
“Here, the school crossed the line by allowing [the pastor] to lead students and guests in prayer as an official part of the induction ceremony,” FFRF Staff Attorney Madeline Ziegler wrote. “The inclusion of an invocation and a benediction coerced all in attendance to observe and participate in a religious exercise.”
FFRF received an email from Superintendent Sean Gorman, confirming that corrective action had been taken. “After reviewing the matter and your concerns, we will be ceasing the tradition moving forward,” he wrote.
New Mexico
FFRF successfully advised Silver Consolidated Schools in Silver City, N.M., to put a stop to a practice of allowing the high school graduation ceremony to be opened with a student-led prayer.
A community member stated that at the May 15 Cliff High School graduation ceremony, a student led the audience in prayer at the beginning of the ceremony. This was referred to as a “blessing” by the principal. The student prayer contained overtly Christian themes and concluded “in Jesus’s name.” While the prayer did not appear in the ceremony program, the fact that the principal introduced the student and called the prayer a “blessing,” and the fact that the student was clearly reciting a scripted prayer, suggested that the prayer was planned and approved of by the school. According to official videos of the event, prayer at Cliff High School’s graduation is not a new occurrence, as a prayer was delivered by a student at the 2025 ceremony in the same fashion. Finally, the community member expressed that they were very uncomfortable hearing a prayer being delivered at a public school graduation with the support of the staff.
“The school cannot avoid a constitutional violation by assigning students to give invocations or ‘blessings,’” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote to the district.
District Superintendent William Hawkins wrote back to FFRF to confirm that the district would adhere to the Constitution going forward. “We will communicate the applicable legal expectations regarding religious neutrality at school -sponsored events and will direct that future graduation ceremonies and other school sponsored events be planned in a manner consistent with our Cliff School’s Community and District expectations,” Hawkins wrote.
South Carolina
With the help of FFRF, the Abbeville County School District addressed multiple constitutional concerns that made the district appear to be closely intertwined with a local religious group.
A district parent reported that Westwood Elementary School had been hosting church-related events during the breakfast hour every Wednesday that were being run by a teacher at the school. Additionally, the school has held fundraisers for religious groups, including taking part in a “Unity Walk” and selling T-shirts for the event in support of the United Christian Ministries of Abbeville County.
Another school-sponsored fundraiser sold Fellowship of Christian Athletes T-shirts with “John 3:16” printed on the back. These shirts were also given out to all students seemingly by the school. Also, the official Westwood Elementary School Facebook page has promoted prayer events in connection with a “Buddy Bench” that was donated to the school, which has the bible verse “1 Thessalonians 5:11” printed on it.
“Even if [the religious group] is properly renting school space for its meetings, Westwood Elementary School cannot give the group favored treatment through preferential rental terms, or by promoting or encouraging student attendance at the church breakfasts,” FFRF Patrick O’Reiley Legal Fellow Charlotte R. Gude wrote to the district.
Superintendent Lori Brownlee-Brewton responded to FFRF, addressing the concerns on a case-by-case basis. The morning gathering group was now being conducted by an outside group before the start of the school day and outside of the district’s breakfast period. The Buddy Bench is secular in purpose and design, and is not a religious display and was not established, designated, or approved by the district for any religious purpose. The Unity Walk was organized as a secular event to promote community unity.
“We acknowledge the concerns raised regarding social media communications and the associated T-shirt fundraiser,” Brownlee-Brewton wrote. “The district is addressing these matters through increased oversight to ensure that future communications and activities clearly align with constitutional requirements and district policy.”
Tennessee
The West Carroll Special School District in Tennessee agreed to put a stop to multiple violations of students’ First Amendment right to be free from religious conduct at school, thanks to FFRF.
FFRF received a report that was confirmed by the commencement program that included staff-led prayer and student-led benediction in the 2025 graduation ceremony. The program further indicated that the audience was directed to stand during the prayer and benediction. Additionally, the official West Carroll Special School District Facebook page promoted a 2025 baccalaureate ceremony. FFRF also learned that the WCSSD Board of Education began each meeting with a prayer or invocation. For example, the Jan. 8 meeting agenda included, “II. Invocation.” Finally, the schools’ dress code included a prohibition of items that advertise satanic worship or cults.
FFRF Patrick O’Reiley Legal Fellow Charlotte R. Gude wrote to the district with FFRF’s concerns and received a response from the district’s legal representative, Christopher C. Hayden, who confirmed that the district had taken action. “The West Carroll Special School District has conducted an investigation into the allegations contained within your letter and can confirm that the concerns discussed in your correspondence no longer exist.” When asked for more detail, Hayden stated that he addressed the concerns raised by FFRF with school leadership, and they agreed to put a stop to the conduct.
