CONTACT:     KIMBERLEE COLBY, 703-642-1070, x 3503

NEW JERSEY SCHOOL DISTRICT ORDERED TO STOP DISCRIMINATING AGAINST CHRISTIAN GROUP

PHILADELPHIA, PA.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit ruled on Friday, October 15 that the Stafford Township School District may not refuse to distribute flyers announcing meetings of Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), a religious community group.  The New Jersey school district had refused to distribute flyers publicizing CEF's "Good News Club" meetings because of the meetings’ religious content, despite its willingness to distribute informational flyers for numerous other community groups.

The 3rd Circuit ruled that the school district must treat CEF equally with other community groups.  The court rejected the school district's argument that it could refuse to pass out Good News Club flyers because they were "proselytizing."  The court stated that "[T]o proselytize means 'to recruit members'.... Stafford does not reject groups that proselytize in the sense of recruiting members. Many of the groups specifically approved in the Stafford rules do so, and the record contains numerous flyers - produced by groups from the Cub Scouts to the local wrestling club - that Stafford has distributed and that seek to recruit members."

Child Evangelism Fellowship of New Jersey v. Stafford Township School District arose when a CEF director asked school officials for permission to hold weekly club meetings at two elementary schools and to promote the meetings in the same manner as other groups.  CEF is a respected national organization that has offered after-school clubs for children for over 60 years.  At the weekly meetings, children listen to a Bible story, learn a Bible verse, sing, play games, and have a snack.  No child may attend without parental permission.

The school district agreed to allow CEF to hold meetings at the elementary schools.  However, it refused to allow CEF to distribute informational flyers, even though it regularly distributed flyers for a large number of community organizations such as the Stafford Athletic Association, Boy and Girl Scouts, and the 4-H Club.

The Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom filed suit against the school district in September 2002, on behalf of CEF, primarily seeking equal treatment for CEF’s informational flyers.  A federal district court in New Jersey found in favor of CEF, but the school district appealed the decision to the 3rd Circuit.

"The appeals court reaffirmed what the school district should have known:  the Constitution does not require government to discriminate against religion," said Center Director Gregory S. Baylor.  “In fact,” said Baylor, “the court reaffirmed that the Constitution forbids discrimination against religion.”  "Religious groups have the same right as secular groups to tell parents about activities geared towards their children,” said Baylor.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a “friend of the court” brief and participated in oral argument in support of CEF’s legal position.  Other “friends of the court” supporting CEF were the National Association of Evangelicals; Clifton Kirkpatrick, as Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations; and the American Center for Law and Justice.  The Alliance Defense Fund financially supported the CLS Center’s work on behalf of CEF.


The Christian Legal Society, founded in 1961, is the national membership organization of Christian attorneys, judges, law professors and law students, as well as supportive laypeople in all fifty states. They are organized in more than 1100 cities into attorney chapters, law student chapters, and fellowships throughout the United States.