The Freedom From Religion Foundation reminded the Ouachita River School District in Mena, Ark., that school field trips cannot be used to indoctrinate students.

A district parent reported that the Acorn High School Music Department took students on a field trip to Eureka Springs on Oct. 3–5. The field trip included the students singing at a chapel, a two-hour Holy Land tour, and participation in shows with religious content, such as a “Passion Play.” The parent stated that they kept their child home from the field trip because of the blatant school-sponsored religious indoctrination that was going to occur on the trip.

FFRF wrote to the district to ensure that it will stop sending students on religious field trips. Additionally, the state/church watchdog, on behalf of the local complainant, addressed a school-sponsored Christmas concert relying primarily on sectarian songs.

“Students have the First Amendment right to be free from religious indoctrination in their public schools, including when attending school-sponsored field trips and events,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote.

By organizing, facilitating and taking public school students on a school-sponsored field trip to perform in houses of worship and participate in a “Passion Play,” the Acorn High School Music Department, and thus the district, violated students’ First Amendment rights. Further, the field trip, along with the Christmas concert’s clear Christian lean, signals government favoritism toward religion over nonreligion and Christianity over all other faiths. Even if attendance on the field trip was voluntary, FFRF noted, voluntariness is not a safeguard against violating students’ rights. By hosting this religious field trip, the district further marginalizes and proselytizes a significant number of students in the district who may belong to the nearly half of Gen Z who are nonreligious.

FFRF’s advocacy paid off, as the district acknowledged it will correct the state/church problems.

A school district legal representative confirmed that the district investigated the situation. “As a result, the district administration is clarifying for the music staff that any school music class, and/or music program, should not be taking any field trip that could be perceived to be a religious field trip,” the attorney wrote.

FFRF is pleased with the response and the district’s understanding that student rights to a public education free from religious coercion are not revoked during field trips.

“A field trip should be an educational experience for students to learn in a new environment — not a proselytizing event,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor wrote. “Religious instruction must be left to parents. Our public schools exist to educate, not to indoctrinate.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 42,000 members and several chapters across the country, including more than 200 members in Arkansas. 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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