PORTLAND, Ore. (ABP)—A federal appeals court ruled a Washington state high school is not required to charter a Bible club, since the club allows only Christians to be full members.
In Truth v. Kent Public School District, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Oregon-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Kentridge High School in Kent, Wash., does not have to offer official recognition to the Truth Bible Club.
The decision stems from a 2003 lawsuit filed on behalf of two then-students at Kentridge by the conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defense Fund. The students sued after the district refused to charter the Truth club because the club intended to limit full membership to Christians who have professed a “belief in the Bible and in Jesus Christ.”
District officials said limiting membership in a club based on religion violated the district's antidiscrimination policy. Attorneys for the students, meanwhile, contended other student clubs the school already recognized—such as a gay-straight alliance—limited membership on the basis of ideology. Therefore, they said, refusing to recognize Truth violated the students' religious freedom under the First Amendment, as well as a law that assures religious groups have access equal to other organizations in public schools.
But a federal district court agreed with the school district, and the appeals panel upheld that ruling. The court noted Truth could still meet on school property even though not officially recognized, and other Christian groups had gained recognition without requiring that their members be Christians.
In a written opinion, the court said the district's nondiscrimination policies do not preclude or discriminate against religious speech. “Indeed, there are two other Bible clubs at Kentridge that have received (official) recognition and do not share Truth's general membership restrictions.”
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys vowed to appeal the ruling.