Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Jewish student among those made to attend Christian prayer assembly at West Virginia public school

(JTA) — Over 100 students at a West Virginia public high school staged a walkout Wednesday to protest what they said was their forced attendance at a Christian prayer assembly during the school day.

Bethany Felinton told the Associated Press that her Jewish son was told he could not leave the assembly, held at Huntington High School last week.

“It’s a completely unfair and unacceptable situation to put a teenager in,” Felinton said. “I’m not knocking their faith, but there’s a time and place for everything — and in public schools, during the school day, is not the time and place.”

An Evangelical Christian preacher who urged students to commit themselves to Christianity spoke at the event, which took place during a daily period set aside for study, prayer or optional guest speakers, students told the AP. The event was organized by a group called the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which organizes Christian prayer in schools and communities across the United States and beyond.

A spokesperson for the Cabell County School District told the AP that the assembly was supposed to be voluntary but that two teachers had mistakenly taken their entire classes.

“It’s unfortunate that it happened,” said the spokesperson, Jedd Flowers. “We don’t believe it will ever happen again.”

It is the second high-profile incident in days to allege Christian teaching in public schools, which are by law supposed to be nonsectarian. A Jewish mother in Chattanooga, Tennessee, alleged that a teacher in a Bible class there had offered instruction in “how to torture a Jew.” That class, operated by a nonprofit called Bible in the Schools, is intended to be nonsectarian, officials there said.

Max Nibert, a senior at Huntington High School who participated in the walkout there, told the AP that the event was a violation of the separation of church and state.

“I don’t think any kind of religious official should be hosted in a taxpayer-funded building with the express purpose of trying to convince minors to become baptized after school hours,” Nibert said.


The post Jewish student among those made to attend Christian prayer assembly at West Virginia public school appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version