Fate of Good News Christian Clubs in Hands of U.S. Supreme Court
By Fred Jackson
(AgapePress) – A case headed for the U.S. Supreme Court could decide the future of after-school Christian clubs.
Baptist Press reports the case involves the refusal of a New York school district to allow a Christian youth group, The Good News Club, to use school facilities after hours.
Although the district allows other community groups such as the Boy Scouts and 4-H to use the school, it does not allow groups that offer religious instruction or worship.
And it appears the problem is not confined to New York. The First Amendment Center has been getting calls from parents in Alabama, Tennessee, and Washington about the resistance of school officials to The Good News Club.
Back in 1993, the Supreme Court ruled that public schools must make their facilities available after hours to various groups, and must not discriminate on the basis of religious viewpoint. But the schools are arguing in the Good News cases that these clubs do not just offer religious views on morality and other subjects, they offer religious worship and instruction.
Charles Haynes of the First Amendment Center says such a distinction is “confusing, and for school districts to try to argue that is unworkable, unjust, and unconstitutional.â€
2000 Copyright, Agape Press.
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