Given the increasingly Christianity-intolerant atmosphere in the United States, it is unsurprising that reports of opposition to religious rights in school have been rising. I’d like to tell you about one of them — but not to fear. Thanks to our constitutional rights and the ever-vigilant work from Advocates for Faith & Freedom, this one has a happy ending!
Last month in our newsletter, we addressed students’ rights to participate in See You at the Pole (SYATP) and Bring Your Bible to School Day. A few days after the newsletter, I received a phone call from a school nurse about a Texas public charter high school that was trying to prevent a Christian student group from hosting a SYATP event. This was just one of the many ways this public school was discriminating against Christian students.
This school has a variety of student-led clubs, including chess, needle works, environmental sustainability, gender and sexuality and even the Wiccan religion. All are allowed to meet on campus during school hours, announce events in parental communications, advertise on school property, etc. However, the Christian club was prohibited from meeting during school hours and was omitted from a descriptive club list that was sent out to parents. When the students wanted to announce the SYATP event and put it on the school’s event calendar, they were told they could not because of the religious nature of the event.
It is a fundamental principle of constitutional law that government bodies (including public schools) may not suppress or exclude the speech of private parties (that means public school students!) just because the speech is religious or contains a religious perspective. This principle cannot be denied without undermining the essential First Amendment guarantees of free speech and religious freedom.
Moreover, the Equal Access Act established this principle through Congress in 1984 requires that what is allowed for one club, must be allowed for all. So what happened on this campus was, plain and simple, a clear violation of the Equal Access Act!
The school nurse, who is also the supervisor of the Christian club, called me after the principal of the school told her to cancel SYATP because other school officials were complaining about the religious nature of the event. Upon talking to her, I realized the discrimination against the Christian club went far beyond the SYATP event. The Equal Access Act violations were extensive.
The nurse told me she had been working there for over a decade and, in her opinion, the school administration did not intend to discriminate against the student group because it was Christian. She believed the school was merely being overly-careful to avoid the appearance of government endorsement of religion.
Photo Credit Crosswalk.com
I cannot know the inner motivations of the leaders at the school. But I did know that we were not powerless, as “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7). In this case, that spirit meant we sent the school a letter reminding them of their legal obligation to uphold students’ constitutional rights and allow the SYATP event to take place. The school nurse explained that she was “blown away by how professional and to the point” the letter was.
The pen — and the Constitution — is a mighty weapon! After talking to the school district’s attorney, the school relented, and the SYATP event took place. The school also agreed to allow the Christian student group equal access to meet on campus during school hours and have the same privileges as other student groups.
Would such a simple resolution have happened without our polite but stern reminder to the school? Probably not. This situation is a classic case as to why we need a robust corps of faith and freedom-respecting attorneys across the nation! We are glad this faithful and vigilant school nurse called us and we wish more teachers and parents would!
If you agree, would you please add me and my coworkers to your prayer and/or donations list? You are a key component of our battle success!
Happy Fall,
Nada Higuera, Esq.