California: Child Evangelism Ministry Accuses Public School District Of Unlawful Discrimination

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) has formally complained to California’s Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), accusing school officials of unlawfully refusing to let the ministry hold its after-school Good News Clubs in public school facilities, CBN News reports. The US Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that, under the First Amendment, public schools must give equal access and equal treatment to Christian clubs as they do to secular clubs.

Getting nowhere with OUSD on its own, CEF has turned to the Liberty Counsel law firm, which advocates for Christian rights, to resolve the issue. In two demand letters sent in March and December 2023, respectively, Liberty Counsel attorneys told OUSD Governance Officer Joshua Daniels that CEF has requested to hold after-school clubs on four local elementary school campuses since Jan. 2023.

While allowing other groups to hold after-school clubs, Oakland District gave CEF a variety of excuses, including not having space even when available space was listed online. In one case, a principal overtly stated: “As a public school, we are not in support of Evangelism on our campus.”

“Viewpoint discrimination is impermissible,” Liberty Counsel wrote in its Dec. 8 second letter of demand. “As set forth previously at length, the US Supreme Court and various federal courts have confirmed that organizations holding a religious viewpoint may not be subjected to discrimination on the basis of their religious viewpoint.”

“Given the clarity of the law and the simple nature of the facilities use request, we request that Oakland Unified School District simply approve the Good News Club’s Facilitron requests for on-campus meetings,” the letter concludes.

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