The Freedom From Religion Foundation is urging the Bedford County Schools system in Shelbyville, Tenn., to reject a proposed “bible” class for the upcoming school year.

A concerned district parent informed the state/church watchdog that Community High School proposed adding a “bible” class to its course offerings for the 2025–26 school year. FFRF urged the district to drop the course or if it proceeds to ensure that students are not being indoctrinated because the curriculum that treats bible stories as historical fact or a source of moral instruction.

“Were it to adopt a bible curriculum, the district would display apparent favoritism for religion over nonreligion and Christianity above all other faiths,” FFRF Anne Nicol Gaylor Legal Fellow Kyle Steinberg wrote to Bedford County Schools Superintendent Tammy Garrett. “This not only violates students’ First Amendment rights, but it needlessly excludes and marginalizes those students who are a part of the 49 percent of Generation Z who are religiously unaffiliated.”

A fundamental principle of jurisprudence around the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause  is that public schools may not advance, prefer or promote religion, FFRF emphasizes. Public schools may not provide religious instruction, and if the district disregards any impermissible religious curriculum, it becomes complicit in a constitutional violation and breach of trust. 

FFRF settled a lawsuit a few years ago against a West Virginia school district after it allowed “Bible in the Schools” classes for elementary students. As part of the settlement, the district assumed responsibility for $225,000 in costs and attorney fees. Bedrock County Schools can avoid the risk of a similar fate by rejecting the proposed class.

FFRF is urging the district not to approve this bible class to respect the religious rights of high school students.

“We’re calling on the district to adhere to our secular Constitution and keep religious indoctrination out of public education,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Bedford County Schools must take action to protect its students from religious coercion.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national educational nonprofit with more than 40,000 members and several chapters across the country, including over 500 members and a chapter in Tennessee, FFRF East Tennessee. FFRF protects the constitutional separation between state and church and educates about nontheism.

The post FFRF urges Tenn. school district not to allow religious indoctrination class appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.