Illinois school accused of unlawfully banning Christian Good News clubs: lawsuit
Quick Summary
- Illinois school district accused of unlawfully banning Christian Good News clubs.
- Lawsuit claims district imposed stricter access restrictions than on secular clubs.
- Complaint seeks preliminary injunction against discriminatory treatment.
An Illinois school district has been accused of mistreating Good News Club chapters by imposing stricter access restrictions than those for secular student clubs.
Moline-Coal Valley School District was accused of unlawfully banning the Christian student clubs in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois, Rock Island Division.
According to the complaint, the school district officials have engaged in “discriminatory policies” against Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) and its Good News Clubs.
Specifically, the suit alleges that the school district has required them to “pay discriminatory facility use fees, prevent them from distributing literature to students to take home to their parents, and bar them from Backpack Nights.”
“Defendants have unconstitutionally relegated CEF to constitutional orphan status and discriminatory treatment in all forums available for similarly situated organizations in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution,” reads the complaint.
The complaint says that Dawn Wassell, local director of CEF West Central, Illinois, met with Moline-Coal Valley Superintendent Rachel Savage to address concerns about the alleged mistreatment, only for Savage to say that “she had no choice but to enforce the School Board’s policies.”
“Defendants’ sole justification for treating CEF less favorably than other similarly situated nonreligious organizations is one thing: CEF’s religious viewpoint,” continued the suit.
“That is unconstitutional and unlawful, and this Court must issue a preliminary injunction pending trial and a permanent injunction upon final judgment enjoining this grossly unconstitutional treatment of CEF.”
CEF is represented by the Liberty Counsel, a conservative law firm based in Orlando, Florida, which has won cases regarding Good News Club's public-school access in the past.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that public schools cannot discriminate against Christian viewpoints regarding use of school facilities,” said Liberty Counsel founder and Chair Mat Staver in a statement on Tuesday.
“Evangelism Fellowship gives children a biblically based education that includes moral and character development. Good News Clubs should be in every public elementary school and that includes these Moline schools.”
The Christian Post reached out to The Moline-Coal Valley School District on Wednesday, but a spokesperson replied that they have "received no formal notification of any litigation regarding this matter" and thus "making a comment at this time would not be appropriate."
In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Good News Club v. Milford Central School that public schools cannot ban the Christian student group from their property after class hours solely because the club is religious.
