High court to hear church-state case

Christian Century, Oct 25, 2000 by Rns

The U.S. Supreme Court announced October 10 that it has decided to hear the appeal of a Christian youth group that was barred from using a New York public elementary school for after-school activities.

The case, Good News Club v. Milford Central School, involves a religious children's club that was prevented from renting space from a public school after its meetings were described as "too religious."

The Rutherford Institute, a conservative legal group based in Charlottesville, Virginia, sued on behalf of the club in 1997, arguing that the public school could not discriminate against religious youth groups if it allowed other youth groups in the community to meet in the school. A federal court ruled in favor of the school, and an appellate court upheld the lower court ruling.

Rutherford lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the appellate decision countered the high court's ruling in Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches School District. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that a school district should permit the showing of a Christian parenting film.

"Milford Central School has declared a kind of religious apartheid by which community groups that are secular may use community school facilities, but those deemed `too religious' may not," said John W. Whitehead, Rutherford Institute president, in a statement.

The American Center for Law and Justice, a Virginia Beach, Virginia, law organization founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson--and which won the Lamb's Chapel case--plans to file a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court supporting the Good News Club. "The Supreme Court has the opportunity to clarify and reaffirm its earlier view that religious discrimination in a public forum will not be tolerated," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the ACLJ.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington-based religious liberty watchdog group, supports the current school policy because it protects young children from evangelism. "Public schools have every right to limit the use of their facilities to protect children from outside groups." said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "We believe the group does not have a constitutional right to evangelize on elementary school grounds right after classes end, and we hope the Supreme Court agrees."