The Freedom from Religion Foundation is asking Leeds City Schools to stop a Christian-themed football halftime show put on by the high school band.

Leeds High School marching band regularly performs a halftime show designed to resemble a Christian church service, according to the national organization. The performance features Christian-themed music and involves church pews set up on the football field.

Christian hymns including "Will the Circle be Unbroken," "I Saw the Light," "Swing Low Sweet Chariot," "Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee" and "Amazing Grace" are played during the show, the organization said.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation says the halftime show violates the constitutional idea of keeping church and state apart. The group says public schools can't "advance or promote religion."

"In Lee (1982), the Supreme Court extended the prohibition of school-sponsored religious activities beyond the classroom to all school functions, holding prayers at public high school graduations an impermissible establishment of religion," FFRF Legal Fellow Chris Line wrote in a letter to Leeds City Schools Superintendent John J. Moore. "Similarly, turning a school-sponsored marching band performance into a religious event violates the constitutional separation of religion and government. Leeds City Schools has a responsibility to ensure that performances by school-sponsored groups do not impermissibly promote religion over nonreligion or Judeo-Christianity over all minority faiths."

Leeds City Schools Superintendent John J. Moore issued this statement to AL.com: "We have submitted the FFRF's complaint to the (school) Board's attorney for review. We do not have plans to stop the show."

The Freedom from Religion Foundation said it is a "statistical certainty" that nonreligious students are in the Leeds High School marching band.

The organization said a "concerned local parent" informed them about the halftime show. The parent claimed that the band director has told band members who do not support this religious show can "drop out of band."

FFRF is asking Leeds City Schools officials to ensure that the district doesn't promote religion in school-sponsored performances, even those that take place outside of regular instructional time. The group also asks the band director to be neutral toward religion while acting in his capacity as a district employee.

"The band director's actions are way over the line," says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. "In a secular setup, he cannot be permitted to foist his religion on others."

The Freedom from Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization that works to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church.