Christian Group Fights Familiar Free Speech Battle With Maryland Schools
by Jim Brown
October 31, 2005
(AgapePress) - Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) is once again fighting the literature distribution policy in Montgomery County, Maryland, schools. The Christian group has filed a second appeal with the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, challenging a district court ruling that bars the group from distributing its flyers in the county's schools.
Attorney Tim Tracey of the Christian Legal Society is representing CEF. He says a public school district cannot lawfully exclude CEF's flyers simply on the basis that it is a Christian organization, but the district, "for some reason, is willing to spend hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars to exclude a sheet of paper from a religious organization."
The school's stubborn persistence in its unlawful position "really doesn't make a lot of sense," Tracey asserts, "but I think it comes down to the school district just not wanting to support religion in any way." He points out that the Fourth Circuit Court declared Montgomery County Schools' ban on CEF flyers unconstitutional and discriminatory last year.
The school district has since revised its literature distribution policy. However, Tracey believes the newly revised guidelines violate CEF's First Amendment rights even more than the previous policy did. The group's latest appeal argues that the school's policy illegally discriminates by prohibiting the Christian organization's flyers but not those of other non-curricular clubs.
The CLS attorney says this is a familiar battle for the Christian group, as "CEF has fought this same exact issue in a number of other courts, and they've had a lot of success." In fact, he notes, "Most circuit courts across the country have decided that a public school district is required by the First Amendment to distribute CEF's flyers and that the Establishment Clause does not prohibit them from doing that."
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
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