Church reacts to lawsuit alleging religious discrimination against Florence High School

Mandatory prayer or a voluntary gathering?

That’s the question about a prayer group at Florence High School in Fremont County and it’s the source of a lawsuit filed by a former teacher at the school.

The suit alleges a teacher, Robert Basewitz, was discriminated against, because he’s Jewish and raised concerns about the gatherings.

“There were massive prayer ceremonies attended by the administration,” said Basewitz’s attorney, Paul Maxon.

The church, led by Pastor Randy Pfaff, meets in the school cafeteria on most Sundays and is advertised with two signs hanging outside of the school.

The suit says that Pfaff has said that the mission work of the church is a group at the high school called The Fellowship of Christian Huskies. The lawsuit says the fellowship sometimes claims to be student led, but that it’s really a front for Pfaff to preach to students and staff.

Pfaff said his church was welcomed to the school, and that the district never told him he did anything wrong. He also hasn’t heard complaints from students.

“Not only is there no resistance, but there’s tremendous support,” Pfaff said. “We just did a variety of things on Wednesdays. You didn’t have to stay, you were welcome to get a pizza, you could take a devotional or not take it.”

The school district never responded to KRDO’s request for comment.