On Monday, Scott Stump, CEO of National FFA, affirmed his organization’s decision to ban a Christian group from holding a booth at this year’s National FFA Convention in Indianapolis.
“There is no appeal process, and we consider that decision to be final,” Stump said in his September 29 response to Dan Janzen, executive director of the Fellowship of Christian Farmers International (FCFI). “Your letter invites the National FFA to debate the history and premise for its policy, but National FFA declines to do so in response to your letter.”
National FFA prohibits “organizations with political or religious affiliations or advocacy” from exhibiting at the annual convention. Several state FFA conventions have adopted similar policies. For the first time in nearly 20 years, the Texas FFA Convention banned FCFI from hosting a booth this summer, as UNWON reported last month.
Janzen asked the organization to reconsider in a September 17 appeal.
“The Establishment Clause prohibits government establishment of religion,” he wrote. “It does not require removal of religious expression from public life.”
Does inclusivity include students of faith?
Kristy Meyer, communications manager for FFA, says the organization is required to abide by the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits government establishment of religion, because it is a “federally chartered, school-based youth development organization.”
“Our exhibitor policies reflect that legal obligation and apply consistently and equally to all groups,” says Meyer. “The National FFA Organization is committed to fostering a welcoming, supportive, engaging and growth-focused environment for all students. Students, advisors, and chapters retain the freedom to express their faith — that has not changed. For 98 years, FFA has welcomed and served students of all backgrounds, and that remains true today.”
Janzen asked FFA to “identify the specific legal authority holding that the Establishment Clause requires exclusion of a religious organization from an otherwise generally available exhibitor opportunity.”
“True diversity includes diversity of worldviews,” he said. “We are not asking National FFA to sponsor Christian worship, endorse Christianity, or require any student to engage with us. We ask only to exhibit and to speak with students who choose to stop at our booth.”
FFA bans sex, drugs, violence—and faith?
Art Free, a retired Texas ag teacher and FCFI representative, stood outside the Texas FFA Convention and handed out flyers after his booth was banned. He said he wanted students to know FCFI had not abandoned them after nearly two decades of participation.
Now, FCFI plans to do the same at the National FFA Convention, scheduled for October 21 through October 24 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Free says FFA’s actions contradict the organization’s own Values Statement, which touts the organization’s inclusivity.
“They claim to be open to all, but deny religious groups,” says Free.
Section 13 of the exhibitor and vendor rules for the 2026 convention spells out FFA’s “right to restrict” exhibits on certain grounds:
“Under no circumstances will any item(s), attire, displays or printed materials containing words, emojis, symbols, photos, graphic materials, or other content related to violence, political affiliation, religion, weapons, drugs, sexual activity or alcohol be permitted.”
Free objects to the organization grouping religion with violence, drugs, sex, and alcohol as categories of content restricted at the student event.
In addition to the Texas event and the National FFA Convention, Free says FCFI has been barred from exhibiting at FFA conventions in Illinois, Ohio, and Iowa.
Advocacy group says FFA is changing
Friends of the Rising Sun is a Texas-based advocacy group founded by former FFA leaders and members. The group says it is concerned that the organization is changing in ways they no longer recognize.
“The US Constitution creates authority for people to exercise their freedom of religion and speech,” said the group’s leadership in a written statement, reacting to Stump’s letter. “The NFFA is unilaterally positioning itself as the Constitutional authority in determining which part of the Constitution it allows its student members to exercise while also eliminating the most basic component of agriculture: faith.”
So the organization has been able to have a booth for twenty years until just recently, has leadership changed and do you know about the background of the person who made the decision to change their inclusion?
I'm of a divided mind about this decision, even though the "no explanation will be provided" part is highly suspicious.
As a matter of sentiment and statute, I think the decision fits a very strongly-signaled pattern of attack on Christian religious expression, specifically.
On the other hand, that pattern of attack includes a rebranding element; we see a rise in "Christian" organization startups that deny Christ and the teachings of His apostles, seeking to dilute and undermine Christianity by any means necessary and possible.
One of those tactics, is demanding equal access with the intention of instigating lawfare.
My point, is that there is more than one plausible explanation for the refusal, but again; more information is required.