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December 21, 2006

Christians Win Court Fight – As They Should

The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that student-led Christian clubs must be treated the same way as other clubs at public schools. The school in question had been charging the Christian club a fee to use school facilities during after-school hours even though other nonprofit clubs and groups meeting on the premises, such as 4-H, band and athletic booster clubs, FFA and FHA, Boy Scouts, and Girl Scouts, did not have to pay the fee. The Court said that while the government has the power to preserve its property for the use for which it was intended, once it opens that property up to private speech, it may not discriminate based on the viewpoint of the speaker. The decision makes for very interesting and educational reading for anyone interested in the juxtaposition of free speech, public schools, and religion.

Not everyone, of course, is happy about the Christian club's presence in schools. Jews on First, for example, points out that the club's entire purpose is to evangelize children. While I sympathize with their position, I never saw a kid who went to Bible classes with his friend be harmed by it. Exposure to Christianity and Christian friends at that age is actually important in helping children avoid irrational prejudice against religion later in life (unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Christian kids themselves, who often become antagonistic toward religion in adulthood, as some of us at PK can attest). Moreover, if kids don't have religion at home, they're not very likely to pick it up in any lasting way at school.

Ultimately, it all comes down to how serious we are about the First Amendment and its protections for all speakers. If school administrators were allowed to discriminate, we might not like their decisions. How would you feel if your children's school allowed meetings teaching kids how to raise farm animals for food or hunter safety, but banned meetings of an animal rights club? What if they allowed military recruiters to come talk to the kids, but banned peace activists? What if they allowed a club for kids who have taken a vow of abstinence, but banned a group that supports gay rights? Take any of these examples and imagine you live in a conservative community and the decisions were reversed. The unwanted clubs would not even have to officially be banned if they were charged fees that made it too expensive for them to continue meeting, as was the case with the subject Christian club. Like it or not, schools must make but one simple decision: whether they will open their facilities to the public - all the public – or only allow government speech to occur there. And that is as it should be.

Posted by Becky at December 21, 2006 02:19 PM