Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Christian Club Sues School Over Media Restriction

We read:
"An Oklahoma school district is facing a lawsuit for allegedly forbidding organizers of a Christian club from promoting events on campus. “This is a simple matter of a school district targeting a Christian organization,” said Matt Sharp, an attorney representing the “Kids for Christ,” a community-led Christian group suing the Owasso Public Schools.

Sharp, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, said the school district told the club it could no longer publicize its events – including discouraging organizers from spreading the word in the community and local media.

“They have a specific policy on the books that targets religious expression by community organizations,” he told Fox News.

School officials confirmed Monday afternoon they had received the lawsuit – but said they have not had time to review the contents.

Other groups, including the Boy Scouts and YMCA, are allowed to promote activities at the school, but the Christian group is not.

Source

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Apparently, the school board needs to attend some classes on the First Amendment.

Anonymous said...

I'll bet if some Muslim kids wanted to start a club, the school would be providing them rooms, staff to lead, and lots of funding.

Jonathan Lewin said...

I have said before that I do not think that this kind of issue belongs on Tongue Tied. It is not obviously a free speech issue. I see no evidence that any Christian "CLUB" has faced restrictions. Those who run the group may call it a "club" but that's not what it is.

Instead, it is a machine designed to reaching out to children in a school and to make them converts. I think that people who send their children to a school funded by taxpayers have the right to know that their children will not be treated as a captive audience for missionaries.

The same principle applies to the school in Alabama that, as reported today, is facing a complaint about prayers at sports events. Pastor David McKelvey, who has termed that complaint an "attack on Christianity", is wrong. No one is attacking Christian practice in his own community and in his church. What is being attacked is his arrogant assumption that he has the right to approach the children of other people and to attempt to induce them to join his community.

jonjayray said...

Jonathan

So Jews on campus should not reach out to Jews with little background and endeavor to explain the richness of Judaism to them?

It happens

jonjayray said...

Reaching out to people from a predominantly Christian community and endeavoring to show them the great strengths of Christianity is the same

Proselytism is universal. There are always people trying to proselytize you into something, even if it's only Amway. It's a part of life that everybody has to get used to

Anonymous said...

I expect Jonathan will point out the obvious weakness in JayJon's "argument", especially when this "campus" is a school and not a college/university.