Atheist group sues Rankin Co. MS schools over prayer meet
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – The American Humanist Association has sued a Mississippi school district over a prayer service conducted in April for students.
An administrator told the Associated Press last month that the assembly at Northwest Rankin High School wasn’t explicitly religious, but a cellphone video taken by a student and provided by the atheist group shows otherwise, with students leading the service calling on classmates to turn to Jesus as a solution for their problems.
The district has yet to respond to the lawsuit filed April 24 in federal court in Jackson. The suit asks a judge to order the district from having religious assemblies. The suit also seeks to hold school Principal Charles Frazier personally liable. Humanist Association attorney Bill Burgess says Frazier should have known better than to allow the gathering.
