: : : AMERICAS YOUTH FOR TRUTH : : :

General Rule: The Equal Access Act requires public schools that meet certain criteria to treat all student-initiated groups equally, regardless of the religious, political, philosophical or other orientation of the groups. This means that the schools must uniformly open its facilities to any student-led and run non-curriculum related group including religious ones. If any student-led and run non-curriculum-related group is currently allowed the use of your school facilities then America's Youth For Truth should also be allowed to use the school's facilities. The Equal Access Act was adopted by Congress in 1984 and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1990.
Congress passed the Equal Access Act in 1984 to insure that high school students were not discriminated against in the public schools because of their religious beliefs. As previously stated, the Equal Access Act applies to the schools defined as secondary schools under state law. In turn, although secondary schools certainly include high school grades, that law and decision do not address the issue of student religious clubs and organizations in the elementary or junior high grades. One of the principle questions that led to the adoption of the Equal Access Act was whether high school students possessed sufficient maturity of thought to understand that a school was not endorsing religion by tolerating it. The Court found no reason to reject Congress' conclusion that high school students are sufficiently mature to understand this fact. So far, neither the Congress nor the Court have made a similar determination about the maturity of elementary or junior high school students. When this Act was being debated in Congress and before it was passed, various public interest groups (obviously groups wanting to keep God out of schools) expressed heated opposition to the enactment of the Equal Access Act. They claimed that Congress violated the "wall of separation between church and state" by imposing the duty of treating student religious organizations equally with other non-curriculum clubs. Once again, the Founders of the Constitution never intended for there to be a separation between church and state but rather that the State or the Government was not to create one denomination of the Christian faith and was not to interfere with the peoples right to express and practice their faith in God. Furthermore, the Founders of our Constitution and Bill of Rights promoted a faith and trust in God, practiced this faith in their own life, and prayed for God's wisdom and guidance as they constructed our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. And most of these men were educated in America's public schools and colleges from the Bible.. in their classrooms.. by teachers who were Christians. Free exercise of religion is your right under the Constitution and Bill of Rights and clearly was the intention of our Founders. You will find the documented truths of America's early years in previous America's Youth For Truth web pages. The purpose of this organization, your organization, is to restore America to its original Christian heritage with God's blessings.

Students may bring their Bible and other Christian books to school and may read them and discuss or study with others during recess, lunch hour, before and after class hours, or any other non-instruction time including free time during class.

Students may pray in a non-disruptive manner individually or as a group when not engaged in school activities or instruction. Students may pray and discuss their Christianity with each other subject to the same rules of order as apply to other student activities and speech. Students may also speak to and attempt to persuade other students about their faith and trust in God just as you might discuss political subjects. This is your right regarding prayer and your Christian faith. Students may also participate in before or after school events with religious content, such as "see you at the flag pole" gatherings, on the same terms as they may participate in other non-curriculum activities on school premises. School officials may neither discourage nor encourage participation in such an event. The right to engage in voluntary prayer or religious discussion free from discrimination does not include the right to have a captive audience listen, or to compel other students to participate. Teachers and school administrators are instructed to make sure no student is in any way coerced to participate in religious activity. In summary, teachers and administrators cannot justifiable stop students from discussing their religious beliefs in school so long as the students are not disrupting school order and discipline. Nor should school officials interfere with students who share religious materials with other students during breaks, between classes, at lunch, on the school bus, or while on campus before and after school.

Students may express their beliefs about religion in the form of homework, artwork, and/or written and oral assignments free of discrimination based on the religious content of their submissions. The history of America's Christian heritage would be a wonderful truth to share with your class as an assignment.

Students have a right to distribute religious literature to their schoolmates on the same terms as they are permitted to distribute other literature that is unrelated to school curriculum or activities. This would include Christmas cards with Christian messages. Schools may impose the same reasonable time, place, and manner or other constitutional restrictions on distribution of religious literature as they do on non-school literature generally, but they may not single out religious literature for special regulation.

Schools may not single out religious attire in general, or attire of a particular religion, for prohibition or regulation. Students may display religious messages on items of clothing to the extent that they are permitted to display other comparable messages. Religious messages may not be singled out for suppression, but rather are subject to the same rules as generally apply to comparable messages.

YES, it has been well understood and agreed upon in the Courts that religious speech is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution. School administrators can only prohibit protected speech by students when it "materially and substantially interferes with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school." If students have been granted freedom to compose their own speeches, protected student expression should not be subjected to censorship because of its religious viewpoint. It is a fundamental proposition of constitutional law that a government official may not suppress or exclude speech for the sole reason that the speech expresses a religious perspective.

If other non-curriculum clubs are allowed to organize in your school, then a Bible Club should also be allowed. Your Bible Club must be treated the same as other clubs meeting on campus. This is the purpose of the Equal Access Act. The only difference for Bible Clubs and Prayer Groups under the Equal Access Act is that these clubs must be student initiated and student led. School faculty or staffs are prohibited from serving in any role with religious student groups other than as a custodial monitor. School officials are not allowed to discriminate against a student group because of its message. They are not allowed to censor the speech of the Bible Club by requiring it to delete references to Christianity from the club's constitution, announcements, or other materials. Bible Clubs must be allowed to use the same form of advertisement that the other clubs are allowed to use, such as the public address system, bulletin boards, copy machines, and the school newspaper. Your Bible club can also invite speakers from your community to address your club.