School prohibits formation of character-building club

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 9/15/2008 10:05:00 AM

Another Bible-based Good News Club has been banned from a school campus, this time in Minnesota.

Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel is taking Elk Area School District #28 to task. He argues that school officials are saying, in effect, that matters of faith have no place in schools. But Staver says the children are just asking for a level playing field.
  
"Equal access is the law, and equal access means equal treatment in every respect. I don't know why it's so hard to get this concept," Staver laments. "Equal access means equal, and schools must understand that the First Amendment protects Christian viewpoints."
  
He points out that schools will permit organizations such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts -- but not a Good News Club. "The only distinction between the Good News Club and many of the other after-school opportunities is Good News Clubs are Christian," Staver contends. "And these schools, for whatever reason, think that they are required to discriminate [against the clubs] because they are Christian, when in fact the First Amendment prohibits this kind of discrimination."
 
Staver has filed suit on behalf of Child Evangelism Fellowship of Minnesota, which sponsors the Good News Club. According to a Liberty Counsel press release, the Good News Clubs are free, after-school programs "that provide lessons on responsible citizenship, including character development, patriotism, respect for authority, and community service from a biblical viewpoint" for elementary students.
 
It is absurd, according to Staver, that any school would want to reject a club that promotes positive values in children. He says they should, instead, embrace a Good News Club.

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