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After the Freedom From Religion Foundation contacted the Benton, La.-based Bossier Parish Schools system to complain about a local church soliciting students to join a youth group, a thorough district-led investigation has put a stop to any unconstitutional activity.

A concerned parent reported that Benton Middle School allowed Cypress Baptist Church members to come into the school during lunch to encourage students to attend the church’s Wednesday night youth group. Cypress Baptist Church’s website explicitly states that it “strives to love God and love people by evangelizing students.” 

FFRF wrote to the district to let it know that church representatives should not be given special access to proselytize students.

“The District cannot allow its schools to be used as recruiting grounds for churches and certainly not during the school day, including the lunch period when students are still under the care and control of the school,” FFRF Patrick O’Reiley Legal Fellow Charlotte R. Gude wrote.

The district serves a diverse population that consists not only of Christian students, families and employees but also of atheists, agnostics, members of minority faiths and those who are simply religiously unaffiliated. Providing a Christian group preferential access during the school day sends an official message that excludes all nonreligious district students and community members, and those religious students who don’t follow the Christian religion. More than half of Generation Z (those born after 1996) is non-Christian, including 43 percent who are religiously unaffiliated.

Not only did the district respond to FFRF, but it also proved willing to stand up for students’ freedom of conscience. 

FFRF received a letter from Neal L. Johnson, Jr., who serves as the school district’s legal representative, detailing the steps the district took after receiving FFRF’s letter, including an in-depth investigation.

“First, the safety, welfare, and constitutional rights of students are of paramount importance to the Bossier Parish School Board,” Johnson wrote. “The school board takes every allegation seriously and strives to investigate all complaints, anonymous or otherwise.” 

The school board representative who led the investigation spoke with both the principal of Benton Middle School and the pastor at Cypress Baptist Church. During the investigation, the principal affirmed the policy that no religious organization is to be given special access to the campus. When any representative from a religious organization requests to visit the campus, that person must first meet with the principal to discuss the reason. The principal said they make it abundantly clear that these representatives cannot promote their religious viewpoints or invite students to attend a service for their religious organization.

As an additional measure in the investigation, the principal was granted the authority by a parent of a student to speak with the student regarding comments from Cypress Point youth pastors that troubled the student. The investigation revealed that the youth pastors confirmed they had invited students to a dodgeball tournament at the church in August, and on another occasion, confirmed to students they would be smashing a car at the church that evening. 

“The principal reminded the pastors that they are to refrain from any church invitations, recruitment or religious references,” Johnson wrote.

The district representative also spoke with the church’s pastor, who confirmed that he was aware that when youth pastors go to campus, any communication with students must be secular in nature, and the youth pastors were also aware of this. Regardless, the point was reinforced to all members of the church.

Finally, the complaint was brought before the school board’s Religious Monitoring Committee, which reviewed the complaint and investigation. The committee instructed Johnson to explain the detailed investigation, and to inform FFRF that the committee “stand[s] ready to investigate and resolve this and any future complaint that may come to their attention.” 

FFRF is pleased that the district took the complaint seriously and put in the legwork to ensure that students’ rights will no longer be violated.

“It is encouraging to see a district work so thoroughly to protect the First Amendment after a violation occurred,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor says. “Students deserve a space to be free from religious coercion, and knowing that the Bossier Parish School was willing to defend that space is encouraging.” 

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 41,000 members across the country, including more than 100 members in Louisiana. Its purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

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