Press Releases

The President’s Religious Liberty Commission Hears From Teachers and Coaches Regarding Threats to Religious Liberty

Press Statement
For Immediate Release: 9.29.25
Contact: John Manning, media@firstliberty.org
Direct: 972-941-4453

The President’s Religious Liberty Commission Hears From Teachers and Coaches Regarding Threats to Religious Liberty
Testimony presented to the Commission based on a wide range of threats to the religious liberty rights of teachers and religious schools.

Washington, D.C.—Today, First Liberty Senior Counsel Keisha Russell and First Liberty clients testified at a meeting before the President’s Religious Liberty Commission. All client testimonies described past and current threats to the First Amendment rights of teachers and religious schools.

“The Supreme Court has stated clearly that teachers do not give up their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate and that government cannot violate the constitutional rights of religious schools,” noted Kelly Shackelford, CEO and Chief Counsel at First Liberty and member of the President’s Religious Liberty Commission. “The testimonies at today’s meeting highlight the importance of ensuring that the religious liberty of our teachers and faith-based schools are upheld both now and into the future.”

“As heard in the testimonies from current and former clients, religious liberty is currently under attack from those who ignore the protections guaranteed in the First Amendment,” said Keisha Russell, Senior Counsel at First Liberty Institute who spoke today as an expert witness. “We trust that the recommendations made today will reach elected officials who are sworn to uphold and protect the U.S. Constitution.”

The committee’s focus today highlighted the importance of religious liberty protections in education as heard from current teachers and school administrators who have been denied the free exercise of their religious rights:

• Marisol Arroyo-Castro, a veteran teacher in Connecticut, was forced to remove her small crucifix from her personal items that she had next to her desk for 10 years.
  In describing her situation at her school, Marisol said, “I started to cry, unable to stop. I asked them whether I should take down my Yankees sign too. They responded, ‘The Yankees are just a sports team, but the cross is a religious thing, Ms. Castro. We can’t have students looking at things like that.’”
• Joe Kennedy was fired from his coaching position by the Bremerton School District for praying on the 50-yard line after a game. His case went to the Supreme Court where he won in a 6-3 decision.
• Carroll Conley is the current head of Bangor Christian School, the school at the center of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Carson v. Makin stating that the state could not discriminate against religious schools for public funding.

In her testimony to the commission, Russell described how teachers and religious schools have been censored from mentioning God, told they can’t pray before a game between two Christian football teams or pray after simply because of the religious nature of the prayer.

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About First Liberty Institute
First Liberty Institute is 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.