Students at a West Virginia high school staged a walkout earlier this week after they claim they were forced to attend what they described as a ‘forced’ church service in the school’s auditorium.

The walkout was the result of a planned event at the school. The event was organized by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and they invited Nik Walker Ministries to speak to the student body. Roughly 1,000 students were in attendance and some students describe being told to raise their hands in prayer and give their life to Jesus Christ so that they could find salvation. Some students shared with the Associated Press that students were also told that if they did not follow the Bible and its teachings, they would go to Hell when they died.

A senior at the school, Max Nibert, shared with local news outlet WCHS, “My mind was blown, I couldn’t believe it.”

Another student, Junior Cameron Mays, texted his father after being told to go to the auditorium, “Is this legal?” Mays sent a video to his father who later described the event as “basically what was a church service.” When Mays’ father told his son that he would be contacting the principal, Mays told his dad, “Lol the principal is here.”

Bethany Felinton, the mother of a Jewish student, explained that her son was told it was a mandatory event and that when he asked to leave, he was told he could not.

The school explains that the event was not mandatory, but that a misunderstanding had occurred. The district spokesperson for Cabell County Schools, Jedd Flowers, shared with the Washington Post that the event was made voluntary but that two teachers had mistakenly taken the entire class to the assembly. Flowers added in a statement, “Those teachers have been corrected and the district does not anticipate a similar issue in the future.”

Mays, whose teacher is identified as being one of the educators who mistakenly took her whole class, allegedly apologized to her students the next day. Mays recorded the apology in which the teacher explained, “I want to apologize to you when we went to the auditorium yesterday.” The teacher adds, “I was not familiar with the people associated with the Christian athletes. I thought they would be discussing choices and goals with you. I should have had us leave, but I did not want to be rude.”

The ACLU West Virginia chapter has weighed in and called the district’s approval of the event in the first place as an “unlawful decision to allow a Christian revival during school hours.”

The nonprofit Freedom From Religion Foundation has also weighed in explaining in a letter to the district, “It is inappropriate and unconstitutional for the District to offer religious leaders unique access to preach and proselytize students during school hours on school property.”