Legal Group Fights for Christian Club's Equal Access
by Jim Brown
September 30, 2004
(AgapePress) - A religious liberty group is appealing a federal court ruling in Washington State that upholds a high school's decision to deny recognition to a nondenominational student Bible club.Since 2001, Kentridge High School in Kent, Washington, has twice barred students from starting the Truth Bible Club. Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Bible club leaders, arguing their equal access rights were violated.
A district court, however, has granted summary judgment in favor of the school, which claims the club violates the so-called "separation of Church and State." ADF attorney Gary McCaleb believes the school is engaging in illegal discrimination, but he says "Unfortunately school administrators have done this almost since the Equal Access Act was implemented in the 1980s."
McCaleb says 20 years of court cases can document the efforts of school administrators who have sought a way to keep Bible clubs off campus. At the same time, he notes, 20 years of successful litigation has shown "that the officials are wrong and the Bible clubs belong on campus on an equal basis as the other clubs."
Although the Kent School District has shut out the Truth Bible Club, it allows such groups as the Multicultural Student Union and the Gay Straight Alliance to meet on district campuses. In so doing, McCaleb contends that Kentridge High is not adhering to federal law. He says the school officials are employing a double standard by granting recognition to the secular student clubs while refusing it to the Christian group.
Apparently the school district officials thought the word "truth" in the club's name would upset other students or suggest to them that they were living a lie -- "which is kind of an outrageous reason to keep truth off a campus," the attorney says. Another issue, he adds, "was that the club wanted to restrict voting membership. The kids who would actually control the expressive nature of the club would require those kids [who would hold leadership positions] to sign a statement of faith. Everyone could participate, but the kids who actually ran the club had to be Christians, and that was too much for the school district too."
But Robert Tyler, another attorney involved with the case, asserts that the Bible club has a constitutionally protected right to establish voting membership conditions in order to preserve the religious nature of the club, and he says the legal group is eager to put its case before the appellate court. He adds that the U.S. federal courts "have consistently refused to treat Christian students as second-class citizens" in such cases, and the ADF intends to make sure its clients rights are respected.
