PJI Defends Students' Right to Present Christian Drama at School
by Allie Martin
April 18, 2005
(AgapePress) - Members of a California high school Bible club were allowed to perform an inspirational drama at their California high school after having their initial request rejected by school officials.Last month's festival at Corning High School was open to a wide variety of artistic expression by students. But when members of the Bible Reading, Education, and Devotion (BREAD) Club asked to perform a Christian drama in the festival, the school's principal turned down their request.
The Christian club's members contacted the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), asking the legal organization to intervene on their behalf.
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Brad Dacus |
Attorney and PJI president Brad Dacus says it was not long before the Corning School Board was persuaded to reconsider banning the BREAD group's presentation. "Once we at Pacific Justice Institute heard about this from the club," he recalls, "we quickly moved into action and put the school district on notice that this was a clear violation of the Constitution as well as the Equal Access Act."The legal group sent a letter to the school board, delineating the club members' free-speech rights and warning of the legal consequences of violating those constitutionally-protected liberties. Also, at a packed school board meeting, PJI attorney Matthew McReynolds addressed the school board, joining with parents, students, and a legislative liaison to demand that the students' rights be upheld.
After lengthy discussion and a closed session, the school board decided that prohibiting the BREAD Club presentation based on Establishment Clause concerns was unwarranted. "The school board reversed what the principal and the superintendent had decided, and agreed to allow the students to put on their theatrical presentation telling the Easter story," Dacus notes.
According to PJI's president, what happened at Corning High School is not an uncommon occurrence, as many school administrators are unaware of the constitutional rights of Christian students in public schools. That is why he feels the religious freedom and free-speech rights of young people in such situations must be defended.
"It's critically important that students in public schools today not be branded with the notion that there is something obscene or inappropriate about expressing their faith," Dacus says. "That is the message that students will receive and be trained by if we don't intervene in these kinds of matters to make sure that true tolerance is taught."
True tolerance, the attorney adds, "means people of faith are not put on 'the back of the bus.'" He says the decision in the Corning case reaffirms the tremendous rights and opportunities students have to proclaim biblical truth on their campuses.
PJI is committed to standing alongside such courageous young people, who seek "to counteract the negative messages of society with expressions of faith and hope," Dacus says. The nonprofit religious defense organization encourages Christian students facing censorship or discrimination to contact PJI for free legal assistance.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
