First Liberty Institute, along with C. Kevin Marshall and Michael Bradley from Jones Day, sent a letter to officials at the Waterville Central School District in New York on behalf of their client, an eighth-grade student, demanding that the school officially recognize a Bible club as required by law and the U.S. Constitution. The school turned down the student’s request stating, “we cannot have a school-sponsored club associated with a religion meaning that we can’t fund the club or provide an advisor.”
You can read the letter here.
“By denying the same benefits to the Bible club that it provides to all non-curricular clubs, the school has missed the concept of ‘equal’ in the Equal Access Act,” said Keisha Russell, Senior Counsel at First Liberty Institute. “The school’s actions are unconstitutional, and its justification is legally flawed. The Supreme Court has made clear that the Free Exercise Clause protects religious practices by both students and employees in public school settings.”
For the past two years Elijah Nelson, a student in the Waterville Central School District, asked his school if he could start a Bible club to connect with classmates who share his faith. Initially the request was denied, but later school representatives said that the club could meet informally during lunch while a staff member supervised the students without participating in the group’s activities; or the club could apply as an outside organization to use the school’s facilities after hours. Either way, Elijah was told, the district “cannot have a school-sponsored club associated with a religion,” and the school would not officially recognize, fund, or sponsor the Bible club as it would any other club.
In the letter, the attorneys state that rejecting Elijah’s request because the school could not endorse a certain religion is “anachronistic and misplaced.” The letter clarifies that while “endorsement did once feature in the Supreme Court’s Establishment Clause decisions,” it does not now. “Today, the Establishment Clause never requires—and never allows—the government to discriminate against religious observers and organizations when granting benefits.”
