The Alliance Defense Fund has taken an Arizona school to court for prohibiting a Christian group from distributing a flyer [PDF] at school while allowing other groups to do so.
The Dysart Unified School District in Surprise, a suburb of Phoenix, prohibited a Good News Club flyer inviting students to after-school meetings, resulting in the lawsuit filed on Thursday. The club had submitted an approval request form and sample flyer in October inviting kindergartners through sixth-graders to the first meeting on November 9. But the flyer, according to the district, was "against district policy" because the program being promoted was "religious in nature" -- and therefore was rejected.
ADF attorney Jeremy Tedesco says courts around the country have ruled such policies to be unconstitutional.
"[Courts have ruled] that when the school district opens up a forum for outside groups to promote their events and activities to students and their parents, they have to grant equal access to religious organizations so they can promote their religious events and activities on equal terms," the attorney explains.
He argues that while the school has allowed a wide variety of nonprofit groups from the outside to promote their meetings and events -- groups like the Boy Scouts, Cesar Chavez Foundation, and Interfaith Community Care -- the district has discriminated against the Good News Club.
"Child Evangelism Fellowship [sponsor of Good News Clubs] has found some pushback from time to time," notes Tedesco. "They've filed lawsuits in other states across the country and prevailed in those -- so we expect to prevail here as well, because the bottom line is the First Amendment doesn't allow religious viewpoint discrimination by the government."
Though the club even included a disclaimer on the flyer stating the school does not endorse or sponsor the organization, the school rejected the flyer any.way
View Rev. Dr. Red Conrad, D.D.'s profile
No comments:
Post a Comment