A teacher at Arkansas Connections Academy muted and kicked out high school student Zion Ramos for sharing his faith with other students in an online social meeting.

We just sent a letter to school officials on behalf of Zion, demanding they correct course and no longer violate students’ rights to freely share their faith.

Zion attends an online public school. Every day, students have a “social time” Zoom meeting to talk about whatever they want, as long as the comments are not violent or vulgar.

Inspired by the memorial service for Charlie Kirk, Zion felt compelled to share his faith in a two-minute statement:

“You may not want to hear it, but it’s the most important thing you will ever hear. We don’t know how long we have. One day, it’ll all be over. It may not be today, tomorrow, a month, or even years from now, but when our time is up, all we will have is eternity. And we only have two places to go; heaven or hell. And we need to decide where we want to spend it.”

At this point, the teacher muted him. Zion unmuted himself and continued to share his message. The teacher then removed him from the Zoom call altogether.

“School officials cannot silence students who are sharing with other students about their faith during social gatherings,” said Kayla Toney, Counsel for First Liberty. “Public schools are not religion-free zones, but by censoring faith on campus, officials unjustly marginalize students like Zion who simply want to share the Gospel with peers.

The Supreme Court has made it clear many times that students do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.

The school needs to do what’s right, follow the law and allow Zion to express his faith and share his beliefs. We’re also asking that Zion be given three minutes to speak about his faith during a future social time within the next 14 days.