|
-------Original Message-------
(http://news.excite.com:80/news/ap/010612/09/news-scotus-religion)
News Article: Christian Club May Not Meet
By RIK STEVENS,
Associated Press Writer
MILFORD, N.Y. (AP) - Though the
nation's highest court has ruled that the Christian Good News Club has the
right to gather at a public school, the Bible study group may never
actually meet in the building.
Milford Central School district
officials are weighing two options in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's
ruling Monday: barring all groups from meeting there or pushing
starting times back for all clubs until 5 p.m. or 6 p.m., a few hours
after students are dismissed.
The Rev. Stephen Fournier,
organizer of the Good News Club, said the second choice wouldn't work
because the group wants to meet directly after school so it can reach the
most students.
"That rules out the club meeting at the school,"
said Fournier, pastor at Milford Community Bible Church. "The best
opportunity for us to reach the kids was right after
school."
Superintendent Peter Livshin said the school board
planned to meet Thursday to begin talking about a new policy and would
have new rules in place before the beginning of the next school
year.
In 1996, Fournier and his wife, Darleen, requested access
to Milford's K-12 school so young children could learn Scripture, play
games and listen to Bible stories. When they were denied, they sued,
arguing the district allowed other groups like the Boy Scouts and 4-H use
the facilities.
The district countered that permitting Good
News Club meetings would amount to a school endorsement of Christianity -
that very young children attending its 3 p.m. gatherings might believe the
school endorsed the club's religious outlook.
"It has nothing
to do with school," Darleen Fournier said Monday. "It's just using a
school building after hours," "We don't want the government mandating
prayer over the public address system or something like
that."
The club first won and then lost federal court
permission to use school space. Last year, the 2nd U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals ruled against the club, calling its activities
"quintessentially religious."
By a 6-3 vote Monday, the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that once Milford opened its doors to after-school
civic meetings with a moral theme, the school district could not exclude
an evangelism club without violating First Amendment free-speech
rights.
"We always said this was a free speech issue," Fournier
said. "This ruling is going to affect clubs all across the
country. Any time you're fighting for a freedom, everybody
benefits."
The case from this village in upstate New York
became a closely watched church-state battle. Groups ranging from the
National Council of Churches to the American Civil Liberties Union filed
friend-of-the-court briefs.
David Ernst of the New York State
School Boards Association said the ruling will certainly affect other
school districts.
"Districts are going to have to be aware that
when they make a decision to give access to some groups, the implications
of this decision is that they are not able to deny access to groups like
the Good News Club," Ernst said.
Milford straddles Route 28
midway between the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and the
National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta. In the community, even at the
school of 530 students, the legal fight caused few ripples.
"I
admire the Good News Club for their tenacity in pursuing something they
believe in. It's what this country is all about," said Livshin, who
nonetheless disagreed with the court's ruling.
|
