For years now, we’ve posted about the Todd Becker Foundation. It’s a Christian ministry that works its way into public schools under the guise of teaching kids to make smart decisions… only to evangelize to them after those assemblies. Sometimes they do that during the school day. Other times, they offer a secular speech, then encourage students to attend a similar presentation in the evening, when the school’s rules are no longer in effect and they’re more overt about their goal to convert everybody to Christianity.
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Because the Todd Becker Foundation is so problematic, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has been checking out where the ministry will be and sends letters to schools in advance to try and prevent any problems. One way to do that is to advise the schools to have strict rules about what the group can and cannot say to students. That also requires filing open records requests to discover what the administrators have already said to the ministry.
And you’ll never believe what they just found.
FFRF wrote to the Burlington School District in Colorado, urging them to cancel an upcoming assembly with the ministry on November 28. They also requested a copy of the contract the two sides signed. Here’s what FFRF discovered:
- The school was aware of the ministry’s evangelistic goals.
- The school knew that a Bible verse would be included in the assembly.
- The school openly admitted to knowing the ministry would “involve them referencing a helpful Bible passage, and/or praying with or for the student.” They knew the ministry would proselytize to students!
- The school agreed to allow ministry members to pray with students after the assembly.
- The school also agreed they would not stop members of the Todd Becker Foundation from being around to speak with students after the assembly.
