West Virginia school system mandates religious freedom training following revival assembly lawsuit

Source: Associated Press

West Virginia school system mandates religious training following revival assembly lawsuit

BY LEAH WILLINGHAM
Updated 4:31 PM EDT, October 27, 2023

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia school district has passed a policy mandating annual religious freedom training as part of a lawsuit settlement after an evangelical preacher held a revival assembly during the school day in 2022 that some students were required to attend.

As part of a settlement finalized Thursday, Cabell County’s Board of Education’s policy makes clear that it is “not the province of a public school to either inhibit, or advance, religious beliefs or practices,” board lawyer Brian D. Morrison said in a statement to The Associated Press.

“Students must remain free to voluntarily express their individual religious beliefs, or lack thereof, as each student sees fit,” Morrison said.

Four families in West Virginia’s second-largest city of Huntington sued the district in February 2022, accusing the school system in the southwestern part of the state of having a systematic history of disregarding the religious freedom of its students and instituting Christian religious practices.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/west-virginia-revival-assembly-lawsuit-134cb051683bc2c38da7504f4ace9872