Atheists Demand Sheriff Stop Baptizing Inmates
An Arkansas sheriff is facing the wrath of Wisconsin atheists for baptizing inmates.
That’s right. Drew County Sheriff Tim Nichols got caught by the atheists baptizing inmates who had accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a gang of atheists based in Wisconsin, is demanding Nichols stop “encouraging or coercing inmates to undergo baptisms.”
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Sheriff Nichols had recently celebrated 13 inmates who made a public profession of faith at Pauline Baptist Church.
“God is at work,” the sheriff wrote.
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But the atheists were appalled.
“By organizing, hosting and promoting inmate baptisms and celebrating inmates’ conversions to Christianity on its official social media, the Sheriff’s Office is unconstitutionally favoring religion over nonreligion, and Christianity over all other faiths,” FFRF attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote.
The sheriff said even the Devil tried to interfere.
“While the Devil tried to do his best to ruin the day we would not allow that to happen,” Nichols wrote, noting the transport van doors and handcuffs caused trouble.
FFRF co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor called it “egregious and unacceptable.”
“The sheriff may not involve himself or the Sheriff’s Office in the conversion of inmates,” she said.
Sweet mercy, America.
In 2023 the sheriff’s department started having church services and Bible study classes within the Drew County Detention Facility.
“From 2023 until 2025 we had witnessed 14 detainees and State Inmates dedicate their lives to Christ while making a public profession through Baptism,” the sheriff said. “As of March 9, 2026 we have now witnessed 27.”
If you’re keeping score, the southern sheriff is trying to change hearts and minds inside a jailhouse, and the a bunch of godless heathens wants to shut him down.
Nobody is forcing anyone into the baptistry. Nobody is dragging inmates to church against their will. These are men and women who made a choice — a public profession of faith.
And for that, the sheriff is being treated like a criminal.
FFRF says inmates are a “captive audience” and may feel pressure to participate. But perhaps the real concern is that some of those inmates found hope, redemption and a second chance through Jesus Christ.
That’s what really offends the atheists.
“The Sheriff’s Office cannot constitutionally encourage or promote inmates converting to Christianity or participating in religious exercise,” they wrote in a letter to the sheriff.
They don’t seem bothered by broken lives, shattered families or jail cells filled with despair. But let a sheriff say, “God is at work,” and suddenly the Constitution is in peril.
Sheriff Nichols deserves praise, not persecution.
In a world where too many leaders are afraid to speak the name of God, this sheriff had the courage to celebrate changed lives. The atheists can send all the angry letters they want.
But down in Drew County, Arkansas, a good and decent sheriff is doing what Christians have done for generations: pointing lost souls towards a hill called Calvary.
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