Good News Club v. Milford Central School influences several court cases

By The Associated Press,
freedomforum.org staff

08.24.01

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Rev. Stephen Fournier in Milford (N.Y.) Community Bible Church in June. U.S. Supreme Court ruled Fournier's Christian Good News Club had right to hold after-school meetings in Milford's public school.

A number of recent legal cases involving Bible clubs and other religious meetings at public schools have been reported since the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Good News Club v. Milford Central School. But they don't all hinge on that high court ruling.

In 1996, sponsors of the Good News Club, a private Christian organization, applied to the Milford Central School in upstate New York to use a school facility after hours. The school officials denied the group's request, although they allowed other community organizations to use the space. The club sued the school in 1997 on free-speech grounds, claiming the school discriminated against it based on its views.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 11 that Milford Central must make its facilities available for religious organizations in addition to other community groups. Justice Clarence Thomas authored the 6-3 decision.

In a June 12 freedomforum.org analysis, Tony Mauro wrote that the Good News Club ruling "appears to erase a line that several appeals courts had drawn between permissible clubs that discuss social issues from a religious perspective and organizations that can be barred because they are too much like worship services or are aimed at converting students."

The Good News Club ruling will probably result in many more settlements of cases involving religious groups fighting for their free-speech rights, said Mathew Staver, president and general counsel of the Liberty Counsel, an Orlando, Fla.-based civil liberties group.

"But I don't think it will ultimately resolve all the issues," Staver told freedomforum.org. "The controversy regarding religious groups seeking access to school facilities and other government facilities will continue," he said. "I think people will have to be educated about the Good News Club case before it has an impact on how these groups are treated. Also, some people who know the law don't care."

Liberty Counsel has filed several cases in courts across the country involving religious groups seeking access to school and government facilities, Staver said. The Good News Club case is "good news for equal access," he said.

In an Oregon case, a federal appeals court on Aug. 7 upheld a decision allowing a Bible club to meet on the property of the Oakridge School District in Oakridge.

The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals followed the Supreme Court's Good News Club reasoning that once a school district opens its doors to other after-school groups, it cannot exclude a religious club without violating First Amendment free-speech rights.

In 1999, U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan in Eugene ruled that the district must open its facilities to all non-school community groups, "without regard to the religious content of their proposed activities or their religious character."

The district appealed.

Since Hogan's ruling, the Bible club, whose leaders are required to be born-again Christians, has been meeting at Oakridge Elementary School.

The district argued that elementary-age students are too young and impressionable to understand that the school does not endorse the religious club.

The 9th Circuit, however, rejected this argument, saying the high court's ruling in Good News Club requires that the situation be evaluated from the point of view of a reasonable adult.

"In such circumstances, as are those presented here, the issue is framed as to whether a reasonable adult would see an endorsement of religion in letting a community religious group use the facilities," the 9th Circuit court wrote. "A negative answer to this question has been already indicated by Milford."

The appeals court did overturn part of Hogan's ruling that required teachers to distribute parental permission slips for the club, just as he or she would disseminate material for other non-school groups.

Such a requirement "puts the teachers at the service of the club," the court wrote. "Not just an empty classroom but a teacher's nod of encouragement is thereby afforded the club's religious program."

In Massachusetts, the American Center for Law and Justice filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court claiming a school committee in Marion denied a religious organization access to the school cafeteria to discuss church business.

ACLJ filed the suit on June 20 on behalf of Gary Taylor, pastor of the South Coast Community Church, claiming the school's policy violates the church's free-speech rights.

According to the complaint, the Marion School Committee denied Taylor's June 4 request to use the Sippican School for worship service and church business that month. But the school allows other organizations such as the YMCA, sports teams and other civic groups to use the facilities, the suit states.

The ruling in Good News Club v. Milford Central School parallels the Marion case, but even without that decision, the school's policy would be seen as unconstitutional, said ACLJ attorney Stuart Roth.

"The law is clear," Roth said in a news release. "If a public school district permits other community organizations to utilize its facilities after-hours, it cannot slam the door in the face of a religious organization because of the religious nature of its message," he said.

In Louisiana, the St. Martin Parish School Board has reached a settlement with a 10th-grader who sued the board for prohibiting her from starting a Bible club and a Christian athletes club.

The board will allow Dominique Begnaud, now a junior, to begin her groups at Cecilia High School this fall, said Begnaud's lawyer, Staver of the Liberty Counsel.

Begnaud sued last year after the board barred her from initiating the clubs because no religious groups were allowed on campus.

The board reached a settlement with Begnaud's lawyers more than a month ago and agreed to allow the clubs, Staver said. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Doherty formally approved the settlement on July 31.

"I'm pleased with the settlement," said Staver. "I'm disturbed, however, that schools don't automatically" allow students to start religious clubs.

Staver said he used the 1984 federal Equal Access Act, not the Good News Club decision, to argue the case. The difference lies in whether the club in question involves an outside group or is initiated from within the school. Under the 1984 act, schools that allow one non-curriculum-related student club must not discriminate against any other club because of its religious or political content.

School board officials did not return a call for comment in time for this report.

In Texas, a pastor who was denied after-hours access to school facilities for a religious play now can do so under a settlement reached with the school district.

The American Center for Law and Justice reached a settlement agreement on Aug. 17 with the Pewitt Consolidated Independent School District in Omaha, Texas. The settlement allows a Naples church to use school space for after-hours religious purposes. Use of the facilities is governed under the same terms and conditions as other community groups, the settlement said.

Representing John Wesley Smith Jr. of CrossRoads Church, Inc., the ACLJ sued the East Texas school district last April, claiming the school district violated the church's free-speech rights.

Signed by the ACLJ and the Pewitt Consolidated Independent School District, the settlement also calls for the school district to pay $67,500 in legal fees to the ACLJ.

On April 15, Smith asked the school district to use a high school cafeteria for a Christian dinner theater production.

The school board rejected the request, saying the nondenominational church only could use the cafeteria if it omitted the "very religious" drama, according to the lawsuit.

ACLJ's Roth said Good News Club helped to "bring this case to a resolution." Like the Good News Club decision, the Texas case is another example of "religious speech that's being denied," Roth said.

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