Liberty Counsel Helps SC Christian Club Fight Discriminatory Fees

Liberty Counsel Helps SC Christian Club Fight Discriminatory Fees

(AgapePress) - A federal appeals court will hear the case of a student-led Christian club that claims it is being discriminated against by a public school district in South Carolina.

Groups such as the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, and the YMCA were not charged fees for their use of facilities owned by the Anderson (South Carolina) School District 5. However, the district did charge fees for Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), a Christian organization that sponsors Good News Clubs for children.

The expense of the fees forced CEF to discontinue the Good News Club, after which a lawsuit was filed on the Christian group's behalf against the Anderson School District. Mat Staver, founder of the litigation, education and policy legal group known as Liberty Counsel, is representing CEF in the matter. He says the school district's actions are obviously discriminatory.

The district officials argue that, although they waived facility rental fees for certain groups whenever it was deemed "to be in the best interest of the district" to do so, they had to charge CEF to use those same facilities. After CEF's lawsuit was filed, the district amended its policy; however, Liberty Counsel notes, the new policy only further institutionalized the previous unequal treatment.

"The issue in this case," Staver notes, "is whether or not these school facilities can discriminate on the basis of the viewpoint of groups just because they're Christian and charge them a higher fee, while not charging a similar fee to other secular groups. And the answer is clearly no."

And the law with regard to equal access and religious freedom is also fairly clear, the Liberty Counsel attorney points out. "These school districts cannot discriminate regarding the viewpoint of the club simply because of the religion," he asserts. "And, in fact, they cannot prohibit the clubs from meeting," he adds, "and they cannot place financial barriers on these clubs simply because of their religious viewpoint."

Imposing a financial barrier on groups seeking equal access to public property, when the discriminatory action or policy is based solely on a group's religious viewpoint, is a violation of the First Amendment, Staver says. "Equal access means equal treatment," he notes. Instead of charging discriminatory fees, he adds, public schools should be embracing CEF's Good News Clubs, which teach children "respect, morality, and character development."

The case against Anderson School District 5 is now pending before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. This is the same court, Staver notes, which several days ago ruled in favor of CEF in a separate case that arose out of Montgomery County, Maryland.