This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A school district has done a quick 180 – literally within hours – after being confronted about its censorship targeting faith.

The fight erupted at Arkansas Connections Academy, an online public school, and involved student Zion Ramos.

It was handled by First Liberty Institute, which explained, "Every day, students have a 'social time' Zoom meeting where they are free to speak about whatever they want provided their comments are not violent, vulgar, or obscene. On September 23, 2025, inspired by the memorial service for Charlie Kirk, Zion decided to share his faith in a two-minute statement."

Ramos said, "Hello, my name is Zion. I won't be long, but I have something very important to say. 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."

Suddenly, the teacher monitoring the call put the student on mute, censoring his speech. Then she quickly removed him from the Zoom meeting completely.

"School officials cannot silence students who are sharing their faith with other students during social gatherings," said Kayla Toney, institute lawyer. "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 legal team dispatched a demand letter, explaining, "As the Supreme Court's holding in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District made clear, the First Amendment protects students' expressions of their faith in public schools. The Court in Kennedy explained that the clauses of the First Amendment 'work in tandem. Where the Free Exercise Clause protects religious exercises, whether communicative or not, the Free Speech Clause provides overlapping protection for expressive religious activities.' 597 U.S. at 524. The result is that the First Amendment 'doubly protects religious speech.' Id."

Within hours, the school responded by inviting Ramos back to the meetings and assuring that he would be allowed three minutes to share his faith.

"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," explained Toney.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders had expressed concern about the issue, instructing the state Department of Education to investigate.

ARCA's response, which came literally within hours, said, "ARCA's administration is dedicated to ensuring that every student has the opportunity to express their viewpoint in a respectful environment."

They agreed to all three of First Liberty's requests, allowing Zion to share his faith during a future social time, promising that "[s]chool officials will support the free speech and free exercise rights of students, including Mr. Ramos, in the future," and agreeing to complete religious liberty training through the RESPECT Project, First Liberty confirmed.