Orange County Public Schools allowed students to present witchcraft spells, rituals, and moon worship instructions as part of a schoolwide morning broadcast — until Liberty Counsel sent a letter demanding school officials follow the Constitution.
A Florida high school’s weekly video segment on witchcraft drew criticism from a national religious liberty group, which argued that the practice amounts to religious instruction and violates students’ First Amendment rights.
The school has since cancelled its “Witchy Wednesday” broadcast.
Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit legal organization, sent a demand letter to Orange County Public Schools urging officials to allow students to opt out of the program.
The segment, called “Witchy Wednesday,” was being broadcast during regular morning announcements and featured students presenting spells, rituals, and moon worship practices.
The first video aired on September 10, opening with a greeting of “Good morning, witches.” The student host described how to perform a ritual cleanse, encouraged meditation during the new moon, and outlined steps to cast a “Light of Insight” spell, which involves candles, incense, and burning written intentions. The presentation ended with “Have a Wicked Wednesday,” according to the demand letter.
Liberty Counsel argued that students with Christian beliefs should not be compelled to participate in programming that contradicts their faith.
“Parents and students with contrary religious beliefs to the religious instruction of ‘Witchy Wednesday’ have the right to opt out,” said Mat Staver, the organization’s founder and chairman. “The First Amendment does not allow government schools to require this instruction, nor can the school deny differing viewpoints after it has opened its morning announcements forum to student expression.”
The group cited several recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings in its argument, including Mahmoud v. Taylor, which upheld parents’ rights to remove children from lessons that undermine their beliefs. It also pointed to Kennedy v. Bremerton School District and Shurtleff v. City of Boston, decisions affirming that religious viewpoints cannot be excluded from public forums once those forums are open.
“Since the school has opened a public forum for expression on witchcraft, if Christian students wanted to present the tenets of their faith in the same manner as ‘Witchy Wednesday,’ these precedents simply would not permit OCPS to exclude them,” the group wrote.
The letter requested two assurances from the district. First, it asked that students and staff be allowed to opt out of the weekly segment. Second, it asked that Christian students be given an equal opportunity to share their faith during announcements. Liberty Counsel asked for a written response by September 30.
The controversy reflects a growing national debate over the role of religion in public schools and the role of parental rights. Liberty Counsel framed the case as an issue of fairness. If witchcraft is given a platform in the announcements, then barring Christian messages would amount to unconstitutional discrimination.
“Orange County Public Schools would be wise to proceed by facilitating opt-outs and including other viewpoints,” Staver said. “The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that public school students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gates.”
For Liberty Counsel, the stakes are broader than one Florida high school. The organization warned that failing to act could set a precedent for other schools to introduce similar programs, leaving families without protections.
The case also raises questions about equal treatment. If students are permitted to present religious content from non-Christian traditions, Liberty Counsel insists, then the same opportunity must be extended to Christian students as well.
Staver said his organization is prepared to take further action if the district does not respond by the deadline. “This is not about silencing students,” he said. “It’s about ensuring that no student is forced to sit through religious rituals against their conscience, and that Christian students are not excluded when others are allowed to share their beliefs.”
For now, parents and students in Orange County await the district’s response, which could determine whether the weekly “Witchy Wednesday” announcements continue, are modified, or are discontinued altogether.
The issue is part of a broader cultural concern about the resurgence of the occult in American society.
For example, a far-left website called Jezebel hired witches to put a hex on Charlie Kirk two weeks before his assassination.
In 2022, California’s Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum would have required students to chant prayers or affirmations to Aztec or Ashe gods, but a lawsuit brought by the Thomas More Society forced the California Department of Education to shut down the effort.
And the Satanic Temple has managed to leverage religious neutrality laws to set up After-School Satan Clubs in K-5 public schools, though officials claim they are not actually engaging in “devil worship.” These are being allowed even as schools are trying to block Christian-based Good News Clubs.
When goodness and truth are pushed out of any societal place, evil rushes in to take their place. That reality has been on full display in the United States for decades.
The Supreme Court’s decision to remove prayer and God’s Word from public schools in 1963 opened the floodgates for secularism to dominate curriculum and moral standards — and now the occult is increasingly being normalized in classrooms.
What is being presented as harmless student expression is, in fact, exposure to practices the Bible directly forbids. Scripture warns against witchcraft, spells, and divination (Deuteronomy 18:10–12, Isaiah 8:19, Galatians 5:19–21). These are not neutral ideas or playful rituals, they are spiritually dangerous and invite darkness rather than light.
Christians must recognize that this is a battle for the hearts and souls of the next generation. If parents, pastors, and church leaders do not speak out now, the trend will spread into other schools.
Proverbs 22:6 calls parents to train up their children in God’s ways, and Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces of evil. The church must be awake to what is happening and take action.
Standing against this means actively pointing our children toward Christ and equipping them to discern truth from deception. The Apostle Paul calls believers to “take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them” (Ephesians 5:11).
We must help our children see why the hope of Jesus Christ is greater than any ritual, spell, or false spirituality. By doing so, we’re not just protecting them, we’re guiding them toward a brighter, more meaningful future.
This is also a moment to pray and stand alongside those on the legal frontlines of this fight. Law firms like Liberty Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom, First Liberty Institute, the Thomas More Society, and others fight every day to defend students’ First Amendment rights and to ensure that biblical truth is not excluded while false religions are welcomed. Christians should not only pray for them but also support them financially so that these battles can be fought and won.
Liberty Counsel appears to have won the battle in this instance, but the spiritual war for the hearts and minds of children goes on.
If the Church remains silent, the door for the occult will continue to open wider. But if parents, pastors, and believers unite with courage, we can protect the next generation, hold schools accountable, and remind America that only in Christ is there true freedom, life, and light.
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