The Freedom From Religion Foundation has successfully halted a Georgia public school district’s promotion of Christian “prayer walks.” 

A concerned student informed the state-church watchdog that Laurens County Schools had organized and promoted a “prayer walk” every year before the start of school. Per a promotional post from the district’s official Facebook account, the 2026 devotional gatherings occurred on Aug. 5 and 6 at each of the district’s schools. The flyer for the events invited students and families to “join us for a time of WORSHIP and PRAYER as we walk the halls of our campus and each school to pray over the staff and students who will enter these buildings.”

The student who contacted FFRF explained the alienating effect of the district’s religious promotion: “I go to this school district because it is public, free, and doesn’t/shouldn’t officially endorse any religion. I constantly feel uncomfortable because I follow a spiritual path different from everybody else. … I just wish I could get my education without having religion shoved down my throat.”

FFRF commends the student who spoke up about the district’s religious promotion. Students have the right to pray individually or participate in genuinely private religious activities, but public school districts must not organize, promote or endorse religious worship.

“The district displayed blatant favoritism toward religion over nonreligion and Christianity over all other faiths by using official social media to invite the entire school community to participate in school-sponsored Christian prayer walks through each of the District’s schools,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote to Superintendent Otha Hall. 

FFRF reminded the superintendent that the district serves a diverse population that includes not only Christian students, families and employees, but also those who are nonreligious as well as members of minority faiths. When the District continually organizes, promotes, and invites students to participate in “WORSHIP and PRAYER” at an annual on-campus Christian event, it sends an exclusionary message to students who are non-Christians, such as our complainant. Up to 26 percent of Georgians are nonreligious, and more than half of Generation Z (those born after 1996) is non-Christian, including 43 percent who are nonreligious. 

Thankfully, the district’s legal representative confirmed that the district has taken corrective action.

“The social media post referenced in your letter has been removed,” Aparesh Paul recently responded. “Additionally, district administration has reviewed with school administrators issues and obligations arising from the Establishment Clause, including an appearance of endorsing or promoting religion or religious activity.” 

FFRF is pleased to have stopped the exclusionary practice.

“We’re glad Laurens County Schools took this complaint seriously, removed its promotion and reminded administrators that public schools exist to educate, not to indoctrinate,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Public schools must ensure that all of their events and promotions are secular, which ensures they are welcoming to all students.”  

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With more than 40,000 members across the country, including over 600 members in Georgia, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.

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