Court Ruling: Ohio School District Can Continue Distribution of Religious Flyers
by Jim Brown and Jody Brown
August 13, 2004
(AgapePress) - A federal appeals court has given an Ohio school district permission to distribute flyers promoting religious events to elementary school students.The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a Toledo district judge's ruling that barred teachers in the Crestview Local School District from placing flyers from religious groups in students' mailboxes. A three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit reached the conclusion that the Constitution does not require the government to discriminate against religion.
Steve Rusk, parent of two children at Crestview Elementary School, had argued successfully that the school's distribution of flyers advertising religious activities violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The lower court ruling barred the school from "distributing flyers or similar notices that advertise religious activities."
But in its opinion in Rusk v. Crestview Local School District, the appeals court judges determined there was no risk of coercion on the part of the children because the religious activities being advertised were not school-sponsored events. Besides, the judges stated, students at Crestview were unable participate in any of the advertised activities without their parents' permission.
"Given this awareness, no reasonable observer could conclude that by distributing the flyers at issue here, Crestview is endorsing religion," the court opinion reads.
Greg Baylor is director of the Center for Law & Religious Freedom, which filed a brief in support of the Crestview School District. He says clearly, Crestview's flyer distribution policy -- which allows distribution of material from other nonprofit organizations, including the American Red Cross, 4-H Club, and sports leagues -- does not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
"That's an argument we hear over and over and over again from groups like the ACLU, who were the ones who filed the lawsuit in this case," Baylor explains. "[The American Civil Liberties Union] argued that the Constitution requires government to treat religion worse than secular counterparts. In this case, the Sixth Circuit rejected that argument -- and rightly so."
Baylor says the Crestview case is a rarity in this day and age when public school districts are assaulting religious liberty more than upholding it. The Crestview School District did the right thing in this case, he says, but got in trouble for it.
"As punishment for their good deed, they got sued by the ACLU, saying that the school district violated the Constitution by giving religious groups the same treatment that it was giving to other groups," the attorney says, adding that he feels somewhat sorry for the school district. "They did the right thing and they got sued for it nonetheless.
"[But] the good news is that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati rejected the ACLU's argument and said ... neutral [or equal] treatment does not violate the First Amendment."
The superintendent of the Crestview School District says the district plans to resume the distributions unless the case is appealed. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio says it probably will appeal.
