Religious Clubs and Non-Secondary Public Schools: Expanding the Scope of the Equal Access Act After Good News Club
Religious Clubs and Non-Secondary Public Schools: Expanding the Scope of the Equal Access Act After Good News Club
Thomas B. McKernan III, 10 Rutgers J. L. & Religion 14 (2009)
The discussion of religion in public schools remains a controversial topic which often evokes fervent debate. Many people passionately support and rigorously defend their stance, either in support of or against, religion in these schools. The current state of the law ensures that school administrators are faced with the constant challenge of protecting free speech while maintaining regulatory control over religious speech. A particular controversy deals with religion based clubs’ use of public school facilities. In Widmar v. Vincent, the Supreme Court decided that a public university may not prohibit students from using school facilities to hold voluntary religious meetings and conduct general discussion on religious topics, when it grants other groups the same opportunities to conduct similar meetings on the school’s campus. The decision in Widmar led Congress to codify the Court’s ruling in the Equal Access Act, intending to prevent similar discrimination against voluntary student led religious groups who held meetings during non-instructional time at secondary public schools, when those schools permitted other non-curricular groups to meet and utilize school facilities. After Widmar was decided and the Equal Access Act was passed, it became clear that religious groups could meet at public universities and secondary schools, but elementary and other non-secondary schools were left with no guidance. Instead, these schools were exposed to lawsuits when they either allowed religious clubs to meet or prevented them from meeting.