Hawaii must allow Good News Club at every public school, court rules
A Christian youth organization has secured the right to hold meetings on every public school campus in Hawaii as the decades-long fight to ensure equal access to school facilities for faith-based groups continues.
The Christian conservative legal center Liberty Counsel announced that it secured a permanent statewide injunction last month allowing the Good News Club, a campus ministry of Child Evangelism Fellowship, to operate in every school district in the Aloha State and have equal access to all public school facilities as any other group.
"This is a welcomed win not only for CEF Hawaii but for all Christian groups in the public square," said Acting CEF Vice President of Administration Fred Pry in a statement shared with The Christian Post. "The Constitution is crystal clear that the government cannot discriminate on the basis of religion or free speech."
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Pry believes that all kids "deserve the opportunity to hear the truth about the life-saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.
"CEF will continue to fight for equal rights and access in public schools," he said. "We have had at least 200 cases and never lost one."
Good News Clubs are after-school programs that aim "to bring the Gospel of Christ to children on their level in their environment" on public school campuses.
In January, Liberty Counsel filed a lawsuit after four school districts in Hawaii prevented Good News Clubs from meeting on public school campuses. The complaint maintained that by granting comparable secular organizations access to school facilities while denying that privilege to the Good News Club, the school districts were violating the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
Five months later, Liberty Counsel obtained a preliminary injunction ruling that the Hawaii Department of Education and the six elementary schools named in the lawsuit must allow Good News Clubs to meet at school facilities just like any other club. On Nov. 19, a permanent injunction that is much broader in scope ensured that Good News Clubs had the right to meet at any public school campus in the state.
In 2001, the debate about whether Good News Clubs had the right to meet on public school campuses went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In Good News Club v. Milford Central School, the justices ruled 6-3 that Milford Central School in Milford, New York, violated the First Amendment rights of the Good News Club when it prevented the organization from holding after-school meetings at its public school campuses.
The court determined that "Milford's restriction violates the Club's free speech rights and no Establishment Clause concern justifies that violation," referring to the view espoused by the school district that allowing Good News Clubs to operate on campus would constitute a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment that prohibits governments from establishing a religion.
More than two decades later, litigation over the ability of Good News Clubs to operate on public school campuses continues and extends beyond the now-settled lawsuit in Hawaii.
Liberty Counsel indicated that it is "preparing another lawsuit against a school district in California," adding, "In that district, every view is welcome — except for the Christian club."
"Liberty Counsel has never lost a Good News Club case," the law firm asserted.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
