A national church-state watchdog is asking Mooresville Schools to take a hard look at whether a teacher-led Bible study at Mooresville High School crossed constitutional lines, after a campus chapter of the Christian men’s program BetterMan surfaced on the school’s official list of student organizations.
According to IndyStar, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to the district urging an immediate investigation into whether staff members were unconstitutionally sponsoring religious activities. The organization warned that a teacher-led religious club would run afoul of the First Amendment and the federal Equal Access Act, and it pressed the district to make sure employees are not using their government positions to promote religion on campus.
Club Listed With Teacher as Sponsor
On Mooresville High School’s official clubs and activities page, the listing for “BetterMan” names choir teacher Jason Damron as the club’s sponsor, a detail that caught the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s attention. As noted by Mooresville Schools, Damron is identified as the adult contact for the group.
FFRF Presses the District
The Freedom From Religion Foundation argued that it is inappropriate for public school staff to promote or lead religious programming and urged district leaders to step in. “We firmly believe that students do not need biblical teaching to make them ‘better’ people,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor said.
The group’s news page states that it asked the district to investigate the situation and to ensure that staff are not unconstitutionally sponsoring religious activities, Freedom From Religion Foundation reports.
Legal Context
Federal law allows students to form religious clubs on their own initiative while barring public schools from endorsing those religious activities. Under the Equal Access Act, public secondary schools that create a limited open forum must give religious clubs the same access as other noncurricular student groups. Courts, including the Supreme Court in Board of Education v. Mergens, along with agency guidance, have drawn a fairly bright line on staff involvement: employees may be present only in a nonparticipatory, supervisory capacity, and cannot lead or direct the religious content. For more background, see the materials provided by the Legal Information Institute and Legal Information Institute.
District Response and Remaining Questions
Mooresville Schools told IndyStar that administrators met with the staff member involved and provided “clear direction” about constitutional limits on employee participation in religious activities. The district added that it supports students’ rights to join voluntary, student-led groups that are allowed under federal law.
Officials did not say whether the BetterMan chapter at Mooresville High is still operating or whether it has shifted to a student-led model. Reporting also noted that the teacher had previously posted on social media that the Bible study “has changed my life,” and that about 40 young men were expected to gather for the weekly meetings.
