Free Republic

ANAHEIM A north Orange County high school has been told it can no longer ban a Bible club from meeting on campus and must offer them listings in the school's yearbook and Web site, it was reported Thursday. Until the federal court ruling, students had been prevented from starting a Bible club at Esperanza High School in Anaheim. Placentia-Yorba Linda School District officials argued that only curriculum-related groups are allowed on campus, the Los Angeles Times reported. But in issuing a preliminary injunction last Thursday, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney said that Esperanza does allow other groups -- such...

Bible club lawsuit roils school Most Downingtown East High School Prayer Club members just wanted to call themselves the Bible Club, use the word Christian, and put religious symbols and quotes from Scripture on their school posters, several students say. But the three students and two parents who took the Chester County school district to federal court last month said the students also wanted the right to voice their opinions as Christians on any number of topics, including abortion, homosexuality and premarital sex. And that has triggered a collision between those who want public schools to be havens from society's...

PHILADELPHIA — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund have filed a federal lawsuit and are seeking a preliminary injunction to defend the First Amendment rights of Christian students at Downingtown High School East Campus. The Downingtown Area School District’s policy of lumping religious points of view and profanity into the same category of prohibited speech is unconstitutional, according to the complaint filed Wednesday. “To consider religious speech--including the word ‘Bible’--in the same class of speech as profanity is outlandish,” said ADF-allied attorney Randall Wenger of the Lancaster law firm Clymer & Musser, P.C. “If this weren’t such a serious offense,...

A legal confrontation is playing out here as a student organization seeks official recognition and money from a state-run university even though the students plan to exclude non-Christians and gays...

BLACKSBURG - The school auditorium was dark except for an overhead projector illuminating religious lyrics. "We lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus," students chanted. Two young men played guitars and belted out, "We cry holy, holy, holy." Blacksburg High School's Christian Fellowship club was gathering one last time before Christmas. The club draws between 100 and 120 members monthly for service projects, Bible study and songs. On Dec. 7, young people decorated Christmas cards for residents at nursing homes. "I find students in the last 15 years to be much more open in professing their faith," said Danny...

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Hispanic Club, the Chess Club and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance are just some of the clubs that have displays in the hallways of Portland schools. But after the Bible Club at Marshall High School (search) put a Bible and some other Christian books in a display case, some teachers complained to the principal. After a call to the district's lawyer, the display was taken down. District officials said they felt the display gave the impression that the school was endorsing Christianity. Bible Club leader Jeff Chatterton fought back by contacting the American Center for Law...

For Conversational Purposes... The Hispanic Club, the Chess Club and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance are just some of the clubs that have displays in the hallways of Portland schools. But after the Bible Club at Marshall High School (search) put a Bible and some other Christian books in a display case, some teachers complained to the principal. After a call to the district's lawyer, the display was taken down. District officials said they felt the display gave the impression that the school was endorsing Christianity

Members of several religious student groups said this week they believe the lawsuit Maranatha Christian Fellowship recently filed against the University is unfounded. Maranatha filed a lawsuit Oct. 24 claiming the University violated the First Amendment by requiring student groups to sign an Equal Opportunities Statement. “I think Maranatha is entitled to its opinions and determining who they want in their group, but I think that if they do want to be recognized as a University group, they have to abide by the University policy,” said Amy Olson, executive director of Hillel, the University’s Jewish student center. When organizations register...

<p>Most college presidents argue that their campuses and classrooms encourage the free exchange of ideas. Where else but here, they say, can difficult issues be debated?</p> <p>But as campus officials look for ways to accommodate the growing diversity of their student bodies, an increasingly vocal number of students — most of them white and predominantly conservative or Christian — say there is little room for their opinions and beliefs.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court turned aside a church-state fight over a Bible club given permission by a lower court to meet in a public school during classtime.</p> <p>Attorneys for a school superintendent in the state of Washington argued that a federal appeals court was far out of bounds when it ruled in favor of the Bible club last year. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the club, called World Changers, should be treated the same as other school clubs and allowed to use school space and supplies.</p>

Action sought in Kentridge Bible club battle 2003-09-16 by Nora Doyle Journal Reporter KENT -- A Kentridge High School student and a former student asked the U.S. District Court in Seattle Monday to take immediate action to allow a Bible club to meet on the high school campus. Approval of a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by attorneys for the Truth Bible Club would allow members to temporarily open the club at Kentridge for the remainder of the school year, until the court issues a final ruling in a civil lawsuit set for trial in June 2004. In...