A Christian youth organization has secured the right to hold meetings on every public school campus in Hawaii to ensure faith-based groups have equal access to school facilities.
Last month, the Christian conservative legal center, Liberty Counsel, announced that it had obtained a permanent statewide injunction allowing the Good News Club, a campus ministry of Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), to operate in every school district in Hawaii.
This injunction ensures that the after-school program, Good News Club has equal access to public school facilities, just like any other group.
“This is a welcomed win not only for CEF Hawaii but for all Christian groups in the public square,” stated Fred Pry, Acting CEF Vice President of Administration, in a statement shared with The Christian Post. Pry emphasized, “The Constitution is crystal clear that the government cannot discriminate on the basis of religion or free speech.”
Pry argues that all children “deserve the opportunity to hear the truth about the life-saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.” He affirmed that “CEF will continue to fight for equal rights and access in public schools,” noting that they have managed at least 200 cases and “never lost one.”
The case in Hawaii began when Liberty Counsel filed a lawsuit in January after four school districts in the state prevented Good News Clubs from meeting on public school campuses. The complaint argued that by granting comparable secular organizations access to facilities while denying this opportunity to the Good News Club, the school districts were violating the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
Five months after the lawsuit was filed, Liberty Counsel obtained a preliminary injunction ruling that the Hawaii Department of Education and the six elementary schools named in the lawsuit must allow Good News Clubs to meet at school facilities, just like any other club. On November 19, a much broader permanent injunction was secured, ensuring that Good News Clubs are entitled to meet at any public school campus in the state.
The debate about whether Good News Clubs could meet on public school campuses reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2001 with Good News Club v. Milford Central School. The justices ruled 6-3 that Milford Central School in Milford, New York, violated the First Amendment rights of the Good News Club when it kept the organization from holding after-school meetings on its campuses.
litigation over the rights of Good News Clubs to operate on public school campuses continues, extending beyond the now-settled lawsuit in Hawaii. Liberty Counsel has indicated that it is “preparing another lawsuit against a school district in California,” adding that “in that district, every view is welcome — except for the Christian club.
