Atheist group claim school violated students' rights after rapper ‘quotes Bible' at assembly
A Tennessee school district has agreed to tighten oversight of guest speakers following accusations that a high school assembly featuring a Memphis rapper crossed into unconstitutional religious promotion.
The controversy began when Haywood High School in Brownsville hosted Patrick Earl Houston, whose stage name is Project Pat, for a school-day assembly in December.
A Facebook post shared by Haywood High School on Dec. 5 thanked Houston and his ministry partner, Chris Smith, “for sharing important life lessons with our students,” and acknowledged that students received a copy of The Tongue: A Creative Force, a 1976 book by Word of Faith teacher Charles Capps.
Formerly linked with rap group Three 6 Mafia and the older brother of rapper Juicy J, Houston now leads the Go Foundation, a nonprofit prison ministry he launched in 2021 to take the Gospel to inmates at county jails and other facilities.
According to the Wisconsin-based atheist legal organization Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), which advocates for church-state separation, the event “appeared to be mandatory” and included overt religious elements that they claim violated students' First Amendment rights.
Citing a report from a single “concerned community member,” FFRF sent a Dec. 23 letter to Haywood ISD Supt. Amie Marsh, and alleged that students at the event were asked to “identify whether they are Christian or Muslim” before Smith led the group in prayer. During his remarks, Houston “quoted the Bible, talked about God, and led the students in a prayer that said he hoped the students would accept Jesus as their savior,” wrote Charlotte Gude, an FFRF Patrick O’Reiley legal fellow.
He ended the session by distributing copies of The Tongue,” which FFRF described as “an explicitly proselytizing book.”
Marsh acknowledged receiving the FFRF's letter on Jan. 21, stating, "The Haywood County Board of Education understands the importance of its students’ and employees’ First Amendment rights. In no way did the HCBOE intend or attempt to circumvent those rights."
Marsh also pledged the school board would “prescreen such service providers” going forward.
FFRF argued that the assembly constituted school-sponsored religious exercise and coercive proselytization. "Students cannot simply leave the assembly without risking disciplinary action, nor is it reasonable to expect students to recognize their constitutional rights are being violated and dissent," Gude wrote.
Claiming the event marginalized non-religious students and those of minority faiths, FFRF further argued that Houston’s message sent "a clear message of exclusion to students who do not share those beliefs,” adding, "Even if an opt-out had been offered, which does not appear to have been the case, voluntariness does not excuse a constitutional violation. Public schools may not sponsor or endorse religious messages, particularly when more than half of Generation Z is non-Christian, including the 43 percent that is nonreligious."
Allowing such proselytization, the letter added, could confuse or exclude non-Christian or nonreligious students, infringing on their rights and parents' authority over religious upbringing.
FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor celebrated the school district's response: “School districts must be vigilant about what outside speakers are allowed to present to students, since, just as we’ve seen here, it’s too easy to convert a mandatory assembly into a religious event.”
It’s not clear who initially invited Houston to speak at Haywood High School. The Christian Post reached out for comment last Thursday and this article will be updated if a response is received.
