Zion Ramos is a junior at Arkansas Connections Academy (ARCA), an online public school. Every day, students have a “social time” Zoom meeting where they are free to speak about whatever they want provided their comments are not violent, vulgar, or obscene. On September 23, 2025, inspired by the memorial service for Charlie Kirk, Zion decided to share his faith in a two-minute statement:
“Hello, my name is Zion. I won’t be long, but I have something very important to say. You may not want to hear it, but it’s the most important thing you will ever hear. We don’t know how long we have. One day, it’ll all be over. It may not be today, tomorrow, a month, or even years from now, but when our time is up, all we will have is eternity. And we only have two places to go: heaven or hell. And we need to decide where we want to spend it.”
Suddenly, the teacher monitoring the call muted Zion, effectively cancelling his speech. Minutes later, she removed him from the Zoom meeting entirely, even as he was trying to finish sharing about Jesus. In response to this blatant violation of Zion’s religious freedom, First Liberty Institute sent a demand letter to the school.
“School officials cannot silence students who are sharing their faith with other students during social gatherings,” said Kayla Toney, Counsel for First Liberty Institute. “Public schools are not religion-free zones, but by censoring faith on campus, officials unjustly marginalize students like Zion who simply want to share the Gospel with peers.”
In the letter, attorneys state, “As the Supreme Court’s holding in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District made clear, the First Amendment protects students’ expressions of their faith in public schools. The Court in Kennedy explained that the clauses of the First Amendment ‘work in tandem. Where the Free Exercise Clause protects religious exercises, whether communicative or not, the Free Speech Clause provides overlapping protection for expressive religious activities.’ 597 U.S. at 524. The result is that the First Amendment ‘doubly protects religious speech.’ Id.”
News Release
For Immediate Release: 9.30.25
Contact: John Manning, media@firstliberty.org
Direct: 972-941-4453
Christian Student Muted, Kicked Out of Online Public School’s “Social Time” Call While Speaking About His Faith and Eternity
School officials silenced Zion Ramos and removed him from class after he shared his faith, inspired by the Charlie Kirk memorial service.
Hot Springs, AR—Today, First Liberty Institute and Cox, Sterling, Vandiver, & Botteicher, PLLC, sent a demand letter to Arkansas Connections Academy after a teacher muted and then kicked out an online public high school student, Zion Ramos, from a daily “social time” Zoom meeting when he began sharing his faith with other students.
You can read the letter here.
“School officials cannot silence students who are sharing their faith with other students during social gatherings,” said Kayla Toney, Counsel for First Liberty Institute. “Public schools are not religion-free zones, but by censoring faith on campus, officials unjustly marginalize students like Zion who simply want to share the Gospel with peers.”
Zion Ramos attends an online public school in Arkansas. Every day, they have a “social time” Zoom meeting where students talk about whatever they want, as long as the comments are not violent, vulgar, or obscene. On Tuesday, Sept. 23, inspired by the memorial service for Charlie Kirk, Zion decided to share his faith in a two-minute statement. Soon after he mentioned the word “eternity,” the teacher muted him and then removed him from the Zoom meeting as he continued to speak. A few minutes later, she shut down the entire Zoom meeting.
In the letter, attorneys state, “As the Supreme Court’s holding in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District made clear, the First Amendment protects students’ expressions of their faith in public schools. The Court in Kennedy explained that the clauses of the First Amendment ‘work in tandem. Where the Free Exercise Clause protects religious exercises, whether communicative or not, the Free Speech Clause provides overlapping protection for expressive religious activities.’ 597 U.S. at 524. The result is that the First Amendment ‘doubly protects religious speech.’ Id.”
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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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