The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation has sent a complaint to the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office over baptisms that recently occurred at the county’s correctional facility.
In a press release, the atheist organization wrote,
FFRF has been alerted that the Sheriff’s Office recently hosted a baptism for inmates in partnership with Kibler Baptist Church. It then promoted the government-sponsored religious activity and its preference for Christianity on Facebook, celebrating how “38 incarcerated men and women accepted Jesus Christ behind bars.”
Following the complaint, 40/29 News reported that the baptism was organized by jail chaplains who minister to inmates inside the detention center and that it was inmates who made the request. A sheriff’s deputy said The Facebook post was taken down to remove any confusion.
This isn’t the first time the Freedom From Religion Foundation has been active in Arkansas.
Last fall the atheist group issued a statement celebrating the defeat of religious freedom amendment Issue 3, which narrowly failed at the ballot box in Arkansas.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has opposed public prayer at meetings and gatherings in Arkansas, and has filed a lawsuit to have a monument of the Ten Commandments removed from the Arkansas Capitol grounds.
In 2017 the group demanded that Governor Hutchinson stop sharing Bible verses on his Facebook page.
In 2016 the foundation went after Washington County election officials for using churches as polling places.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has even complained about the fact that that Arkansas’ public school students can study the Bible academically — even though it is one of the oldest texts in existence and has had a profound influence on human history.
It’s worth noting that across the board, groups like the Freedom From Religion Foundation tend to threaten lawsuits. If people stand their ground, these organizations rarely follow through by filing a lawsuit.
Religious freedom is a fundamental right in America, and groups like the Freedom From Religion Foundation infringe that liberty when they work to purge the free exercise of religion from public life.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
