News Release
For Immediate Release: 11.13.25
Contact: John Manning, media@firstliberty.org
Direct: 972-941-4453
Tennessee School District Urged to Follow the Law and Allow Faith-Based Athletic Student Clubs to Meet
Fearing a challenge from anti-religious groups, school delays granting the request until receiving guidance from the school board.
Carthage, TN—First Liberty Institute sent a letter today to the Smith County (TN) Board of Education on behalf of a parent who asked the district to allow his sons to launch faith-based athletic student clubs in their respective schools. The school principal put the request on hold stating that the school wants to ensure it is “meticulously following all state and federal laws.”
You can read the letter here.
“We appreciate the Smith County School System’s commitment to following the law,” said Holly M. Randall, Counsel for First Liberty. “Our goal is to clarify that the United States Constitution, federal law, the Tennessee Constitution, and Tennessee state law all protect the rights of students to express their faith through religious student clubs.”
Josh Gibbs’s sons attend Smith County Middle School and Carthage Elementary School. Both students wish to initiate and lead faith-based athletic student clubs at their respective schools. However, his request was put on hold while the principal waits for further direction from the Smith County Board of Education and the school board’s attorney.
In the letter, attorneys state, “Smith County School System risks running afoul of the First Amendment—and other state and federal laws—if it limits the rights of elementary or middle grade students to initiate and organize religious clubs . . . It is a fundamental principle of the First Amendment that students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate. Tinker v. Des Moines Indep. Cmty. Sch. Dist., 393 U.S. 503, 506 (1969). That principle does not discriminate based on age or grade. The First Amendment’s protection of free exercise and free speech extends to elementary and middle grade students—like G.G.G. and G.B.G.—expressing their sincere religious beliefs through voluntary clubs. See Good News Club v. Milford Cent. Sch., 533 U.S. 98, 107 (2001) (applying the First Amendment to an elementary school club).”
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About First Liberty Institute
First Liberty Institute is a non-profit public interest law firm and the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.
To arrange an interview, contact John Manning at media@firstliberty.org or by calling 972-941-4453.
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