Supreme Court upholds school's Bible club
___By Kenny Byrd
___Associated Baptist Press
___WASHINGTON (ABP)--The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that an elementary school in New York violated the free-speech rights of a Christian organization when it barred the group from holding after-school Bible and religion classes for children.
___While many news reports have indicated justices reversed the lower court and ruled in favor of the Good News Club based on the separation of church and state, the majority actually based the decision on the First Amendment's free-speech guarantee. The majority ruled that the school discriminated against the club "because of its religious viewpoint" in violation of the Constitution.
___In the opinion written by Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, the majority said issues in the case were similar to its holding in 1993 in Lamb's Chapel vs. Center Moriches Union Free School District, where a school district wrongly precluded a private group from presenting films at the school based solely on the religious perspective of the films.
___Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Associate Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy joined the opinion. Justice Stephen Breyer joined only part of the majority's opinion, and Scalia wrote a separate concurring opinion.
___Justice John Paul Stevens filed a dissenting opinion. Justices David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg issued a separate dissent.
___"This case is undoubtedly close," Stevens wrote. "Distinguishing speech from a religious viewpoint, on the one hand, from religious proselytizing on the other, is comparable to distinguishing meetings to discuss political issues from meetings whose principal purpose is to recruit new members to join a political organization."
___If a school were to allow an after-school discussion of current events, Stevens said, it may not exclude people simply because it dislikes their opinions. "But must it therefore allow organized political groups--for example, the Democratic Party, the Libertarian Party, or the Ku Klux Klan--to hold meetings, the principal purpose of which is not to discuss the current-events topic from their own unique view but rather to recruit others to join their respective groups? I think not," he continued.
___Souter's dissent detailed the evangelistic effort of the Good News Club. "During the invitation, the teacher 'invited' the 'unsaved' children 'to trust the Lord Jesus to be your Savior from sin' and 'receive him as your Savior from sin.'"
___"It is beyond question that Good News intends to use the public-school premises not for the mere discussion of a subject from a particular Christian point of view, but for an evangelical service of worship calling children to commit themselves in an act of Christian conversion," Souter said.
___Since 1992, Milford Central School has had a policy allowing district residents to use school facilities "for social, civic and recreational meetings and entertainment events, provided that such uses shall be non-exclusive and shall be open to the general public."
___It also states that school premises "shall not be used by an individual or organization for religious purposes." Groups such as the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and 4-H Club were among those using the school under the policy.
___In 1996, the Good News Club--affiliated with a Christian missionary organization known as Child Evangelism Fellowship--applied to use the school's facilities.
___After reviewing the club's program materials, Robert McGruder, interim superintendent of schools in the Milford School District, said the proposed activities were not merely discussion of secular subjects from a religious perspective but "were in fact the equivalent of religious instruction itself."
___The Milford Board of Education denied the application, and the club filed a complaint with a U.S. district court in March 1997, charging its free-speech, equal-protection and religious-freedom rights had been violated. The district ruled in favor of the school, and the 2nd Circuit upheld the ruling.
___Religious and civil-liberties groups were quick to comment on the case.
___The Baptist Joint Committee filed a brief in support of the Good News Club, as did the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
___"A policy that allows events pertaining to the welfare of the community, including the discussion of character and morals, cannot exclude the club based upon the manner in which it leads its discussions," said BJC General Counsel Holly Hollman.
___"This is clearly a free-speech case," she said. "The court recognized that the separation of church and state does not require the exclusion of the Good News Club."
___The SBC's Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, called the decision "a victory for everyone who believes in true religious freedom. It is simply unconstitutional for any government to give access to non-school groups and then decide to bar access to other groups merely because they are religious," he said.
___But Barry Lynn, director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, called the decision a "terrible mistake."
___"The court's ruling means aggressive fundamentalist evangelicals have a new way to proselytize school kids," he said. "The only good news here is that safeguards remain in place to prohibit evangelism during the day."
The Baptist Standard
News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!