News Release
For Immediate Release: 4.24.25
Contact: John Manning, media@firstliberty.org
Direct: 972-941-4453
Utah School District Forces Teacher to Remove Prayer Chain from Faculty Lounge
Teachers post announcements for baby showers, weddings, and other events but a voluntary prayer support chain is not allowed.
Heber City, UT—First Liberty Institute and the law firm Mayer Brown LLP sent a letter to the Wasatch County (UT) School District demanding first grade teacher Taryn Israelson be allowed to post a voluntary prayer support chain in the school’s faculty lounge. After she received approval from the Human Resources manager for the prayer chain, the principal at J.R. Smith Elementary told her it must be removed.
You can read the letter here.
“The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the First Amendment requires public school officials to be neutral in their treatment of religion,” said Keisha Russell, Senior Counsel at First Liberty Institute. “The principal’s actions demonstrate hostility towards religious expression which the Supreme Court has consistently said is unconstitutional.”
Taryn Israelson, a teacher at J.R. Smith Elementary, after receiving approval from the Human Resources manager, began a voluntary prayer chain in which individuals could opt-in to be prayed for and to pray for others. She posted a sign in the school faculty lounge two years ago to invite faculty members to participate. The faculty lounge provides members a place to gather and socialize during breaks and post personal signs on the refrigerators advertising community plays, announcing weddings and baby showers, sharing motivational phrases, and engaging in other forms of personal expression. She continued the practice of her prayer chain this year until the school principal, told her to stop the religious expression and forced her to remove it.
In the letter, attorneys state that “[t]he First Amendment forbids religious activity that is sponsored by the government but protects religious activity that is initiated by individuals acting on their own behalf. The Supreme Court has explained “there is a crucial difference between government speech endorsing religion, which the Establishment Clause forbids, and private speech endorsing religion, which the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses protect.” Bd. of Educ. v. Mergens, 496 U.S. 226, 250 (1990) (plurality).
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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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