NJ SCHOOL DISTRICT ORDERED TO STOP DISCRIMINATING AGAINST CEF GROUP
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 Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom had 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 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.
CENTER SUCCESSFULLY DEFENDS RIGHT OF CLS CHAPTER AND OTHER RELIGIOUS GROUPS AT OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
Ohio State University agreed on October 1 that it could not require the Christian Legal Society chapter at its Michael E. Moritz College of Law and other campus religious groups to abide by objectionable provisions of the University’s Nondiscrimination Policy. The policy would have forced the CLS chapter, and other campus religious groups, to accept members and officers who reject their Christian beliefs.
Center attorneys offered to settled the dispute with the University in the fall of 2003 if the school would agree that the “religion” and “sexual orientation” portions of its Nondiscrimination Policy would not apply to religious student clubs with respect to their selection of members and officers. The university declined, and the Center filed a lawsuit against the university last March.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (“FIRE”) urged the university to change its policy on behalf of a broad interfaith coalition of Muslim and Christian student organizations, and the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund provided financial support to the Center for Law & Religious Freedom for its work on the case.
CLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE AND GLOBAL CONVOCATION
We invite you to attend the CLS National Conference and Global Convocation on October 28 – 31 at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner in McLean, Virginia. It isn’t too late to register for “Doing the Impossible with Jesus: Overcoming Evil with Good Throughout the World.”
We also invite you to join the Center staff in the Center’s hospitality suite (room 937) during the conference on the evenings of Thursday October 28 and Friday October 29. Center attorneys will address informally the application of non-discrimination rules to public university student groups, the church-state issues confronted by faith-based social service organizations, and the Center’s work on behalf of Child Evangelism Fellowship.
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