Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
Why is the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) denying a Christian student club equal access to facilities when it allows access to other clubs?
That’s what the Child Evangelism Fellowship NorCal East Bay (CEF) and Liberty Counsel (LC) want to know.
LC filed a lawsuit last December against the school district on behalf of CEF after denying the organization’s Good News Clubs equal access to school facilities. LC said the denial violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, state law, and school board policy.
A federal court heard arguments on Thursday. LC asked for a preliminary injunction against OUSD’s “unconstitutional actions.”
LC said that participation in the club is free, and children must have parents’ written permission. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Good News Clubs existed in the schools. They were canceled in 2020, but the district never allowed meetings to resume. The excuse? LC said that in one denial, a principal displayed religious viewpoint discrimination. From the email: “As a public school, we are not in support of Evangelism on our campus.”
All of a sudden? OUSD must know that courts are trending toward protecting religious freedom — but risked a lawsuit anyway. From LC:
While OUSD does not contest this evidence in court documents, the district did attribute its unconstitutional and discriminatory treatment of CEF to a “new policy” and “new practices” even though state and school district regulations reflect no such changes.
To date, while other organizations such as Girls on the Run and Berkeley Chess School are allowed to use school facilities for after school programs, CEF Good News Clubs remain excluded by blatant religious viewpoint discrimination.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that public schools cannot discriminate against Christian viewpoints regarding use of school facilities,” said Mat Staver, LC founder and chairman. Therefore, the Oakland Unified School District must give the Good News Clubs equal access and treatment as the similarly situated non-religious groups on public school campuses.”
