An Arkansas student has been invited back to his school’s social time to share his faith after being muted during a Zoom call. 11^th-grader Zion Ramos attends Arkansas Connections Academy (ARCA), an online public school, which includes a thirty-minute Zoom “social session” where students are allowed to discuss whatever topics they would like with each other, provided they are not “violent, vulgar, or obscene.” Ramos, inspired by Charlie Kirk’s memorial, decided to use the time to share his faith. After telling his fellow students he wouldn’t take too much of their time, Ramos asked them to focus on life after death. “We don’t know how long we have. One day, it’ll all be over,” he told the other students. “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.”

According to a letter by First Liberty Institute (FLI), which is representing Ramos, high school teacher Kelsey Reid, who was monitoring the social hour, muted Ramos. He then unmuted himself and insisted he had a right to speak. According to FLI, students have used the time to discuss LGBTQ+ related topics, relationships, and shown off a pocketknife without being muted. “We need to decide how we will spend eternity. We can accept the Lord Jesus Christ into our hearts,” Ramos argued before Ms. Reid kicked him out of the Zoom meeting. The meeting was then shut down completely. Ms. Reid sent a message, explaining her decision to shut down Ramos. “I would like to explain why you were removed from Social Time today,” she wrote. “I did not remove you based on the information you were sharing, but rather due to the manner in which you were sharing it. We have a short amount of time for students to engage with one another and unfortunately that does not allow for all students to use Social Time as a speaking platform.” She encouraged him to use the chat function instead.

FLI sent a demand letter to the school, accusing Ms. Reid of violating Ramos’s First Amendment rights, particularly the Free Exercise clause. “The Free Exercise Clause provides robust protection for religious students like Zion seeking to express their faith,” wrote FLI. FLI asked that the school allow Ramos to have three minutes to express his faith, that the school would support students’ First Amendment rights, and that teachers would receive proper training through the RESPECT project. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders also directed the Arkansas Department of Education to open an investigation.

Shortly after receiving the demand letter, the school responded and agreed to all of FLI’s demands. Ramos said he was, “glad the school agreed to do the right thing.” “Freedom of speech isn’t just a right, it’s the foundation of our liberty. Christians must stand up, speak out, and defend our right to share what we believe.” Kayla Toney, Counsel for FLI, said officials did the right thing. “We are grateful that school officials acknowledge how concerning this situation was for Zion and his family, and that federal and state law protect students’ religious expression during social gatherings,” she said. “Zion looks forward to sharing his faith during a future social time.”