Rio Hondo Teacher Sues District Over Mandatory Prayer
Juan Antonio Castillo worked as a Spanish teacher at a public middle school in Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley.
BROWNSVILLE, TX. – Today, Juan Antonio Castillo – a former Spanish teacher at Rio Hondo Middle School, filed a federal lawsuit against the Rio Hondo Independent School District (ISD) for violating his First Amendment rights over the course of several years by coercing him to partake in mandatory prayer.
Castillo’s complaint explains that he, a Humanist, was required to attend multiple mandatory staff meetings that featured evangelical Christian prayers. No advance notice was given to staff that these meetings would include religious observances, and in each meeting, staff were instructed to rise, bow their heads and join the superintendent or school board member in prayer. Despite not sharing the religious beliefs that their superiors expressly promoted, Castillo and other staff were given no opportunity to excuse themselves or decline to participate. Castillo has worked as an educator for 25 years and was employed at Rio Hondo Middle School from 2023 to 2026.
“I feel that it is my responsibility to speak up for the rest of the educators at Rio Hondo Middle School who have been subjected to this discrimination,” said the plaintiff Juan Antonio Castillo. “As a Humanist, it is a violation of my beliefs to be forced to take part in theistic religious observances like Christian prayer, which happened several times during my employment with Rio Hondo ISD. I have nothing against my colleagues who willingly choose to participate in these group prayers – I just want everyone’s right to their personal beliefs to be respected by the school district.”
“Compelling public employees to participate in a supervisor’s religious practice against their will is precisely the kind of abuse the framers of the First Amendment sought to prevent,” said Amitai Heller, Legal Director at the American Humanist Association. “That this is happening in our public schools shows how deeply the Christian Nationalist movement has permeated our institutions. We filed this lawsuit to remind Rio Hondo ISD that public schools, like all of our public institutions, belong to all of us, and everyone should feel welcome there.”
“We are proud to support Mr. Castillo and the American Humanist Association in this lawsuit,” said Billy Marsh, cooperating attorney on behalf of the American Humanist Association and a Texas-based partner at A&O Shearman. “It is a fundamental tenet of our system of government that the state cannot favor one religion over any other. All people should be free to worship who, how, or what they may (or not worship at all), free of coercion by the state.”
High-resolution photo of Juan Antonio Castillo.
The American Humanist Association
<span data-metadata="“>The American Humanist Association (AHA) works to protect the rights of Humanists, atheists, and other nontheistic Americans. The AHA advances the ethical and life-affirming worldview of Humanism, which—without beliefs in gods or other supernatural forces—encourages individuals to live informed and meaningful lives that aspire to the greater good of humanity.
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