Atheist Group Targets Arkansas School District Over Student Prayer

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The Freedom From Religion Foundation has once again targeted religious expression in Arkansas. The Wisconsin-based atheist organization issued a statement last week saying it recently demanded the Highland School District to stop student-led prayer at school events.

The organization’s complaints stemmed from last September, when a student council president led prayer at a school pep rally and prayed during a Patriot Day memorial ceremony. FFRF’s staff attorney also objected to the school excusing students from class to voluntarily attend a prayer circle for a classmate in September and specifically promoting the Fellowship of Christian Students student-group.

This is just the latest example of FFRF’s ongoing campaign against religious expression in Arkansas. The organization is currently suing to remove the privately-funded Ten Commandments monument from the Arkansas Capitol lawn, and it recently joined a lawsuit to prevent public schools from displaying the Ten Commandments. In 2022, the group also celebrated the defeat of a proposed religious freedom amendment.

Arkansas families should be concerned when out-of-state groups try to intimidate local school districts into silencing student-led prayer. Students have clear constitutional rights to voluntarily pray and express their faith at school. These are fundamental freedoms protected by our constitution and our laws. There shouldn’t be anything controversial about that.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Gov. Sanders Refuses to Rescind Christmas Proclamation

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Above: The Nativity Scene the adorns Arkansas’ Capitol Lawn.

On Monday, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement refusing to comply with a Freedom From Religion Foundation letter asking her to rescind her Christmas proclamation.

The governor’s proclamation tells the Christmas Story about the birth of Christ, and it ensures State offices will be closed December 25 and 26 in observance of Christmas.

In response, the Wisconsin-based atheist organization sent Gov. Sanders a letter claiming her proclamation violated the First Amendment by sharing the story of Christ’s birth. The group demanded she rescind the proclamation.

In her response, Gov. Sanders told the Freedom From Religion Foundation it would be “impossible” to keep religion out of Christmas.

“Christmas is not simply an ‘end-of-the-year holiday’ with ‘broadly observed secular cultural aspects,'” Sanders wrote. “Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, and if we are to honor Him properly, we should tell His miraculous, world-changing story properly, too.”

This is not the first time the Freedom From Religion Foundation has targeted the free exercise of religion in Arkansas.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is currently suing the State of Arkansas to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the Capitol lawn in Little Rock, and it recently joined a lawsuit to prevent public schools and buildings in Arkansas from displaying the Ten Commandments.

In 2022, 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.

In 2017 the group demanded that then-Gov. Asa 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.

Gov. Sanders is right when she says Christmas is about Christ. There shouldn’t be anything controversial about acknowledging that.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Out-of-State Attorneys Join Ten Commandments Lawsuit

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Out-of-state attorneys from atheist organizations have been given a green light to participate in a lawsuit  that would block the Ten Commandments in Arkansas’ schools and public buildings.

Arkansas law requires a copy of the national motto, “In God We Trust,” to be displayed in public schools and other public buildings. Act 573 of 2025 by Sen. Jim Dotson (R — Bentonville) and Rep. Alyssa Brown (R — Heber Springs) requires a historical copy of the Ten Commandments to be displayed as well. The measure received strong support in the Arkansas Legislature earlier this year, and the governor signed it into law on April 14. Act 573 is slated to take effect later this summer.

However, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on June 11 to block Act 573. On Monday, the federal court issued a series of procedural orders letting attorneys from the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Wisconsin and Americans United for Separation of Church and State in Washington, D.C., represent plaintiffs in the case as well.

This is not the first time these groups have opposed laws in Arkansas. The Freedom From Religion Foundation is currently part of a lawsuit to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the capitol lawn in Little Rock. And both organizations also have a history of complaining about religious expression in Arkansas.

Over the years, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that items that are important to our nation’s history — like the Ten Commandments or the national motto — may be honored and recognized publicly without running afoul of the First Amendment.

The Ten Commandments are one of the earliest examples of the rule of law in human history, and they have had a profound impact in shaping America’s concept of the rule of law as well.

Besides being culturally and historically significant, copies of the Ten Commandments have often appeared in artwork at courthouses and similar locations around the country.

During her testimony in support of Act 573 last April, Rep. Alyssa Brown noted that the U.S. Supreme Court uses a “longstanding history and tradition test” to decide if it is constitutional to display something like a copy of the Ten Commandments. Rep. Brown said, “The Ten Commandments without a doubt will pass this longstanding history and tradition test.”

We believe our federal courts ultimately will agree and uphold Act 573 as constitutional.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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