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June 15, 2001/Sivan 24, 5761, Vol. 53, No.37
Court ruling is 'good news' for Orthodox groups
SHARON SAMBER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
WASHINGTON - Orthodox Jewish groups are hailing a U.S. Supreme Court decision defending the right of a Christian youth club to meet in a public school building after school hours.
Most Jewish groups, however, are disappointed by the ruling, saying schools should be able to prohibit religious instruction on school grounds.
In a 6-3 decision June 11, the high court ruled that a public school violated a religious group's free speech rights when it refused to allow the group to meet in the school after school hours.
While the ruling in Good News Club v. Milford Central School boosts those groups that favor increased religious access to public facilities, it is unclear whether this narrowly drawn opinion has broader implications for the issue of religious freedom.
School officials in Milford, N.Y., had denied school facilities to the Good News Club, a community-based youth group with national support from a Christian missionary organization, because they believed the group's activities constituted religious worship.
The club maintained that it taught moral values through the use of Bible stories, games, scripture and songs, and said it should have the same rights to meet in schools as the Boy Scouts and the 4-H Club.
The high court agreed.
The Orthodox Union, which had joined a brief supporting the club, applauded the June 11 ruling.
A policy barring the use of the school for religious purposes mandates "unequal, and therefore, unconstitutional discriminatory treatment of religion," said Nathan Diament, director of the OU's Institute for Public Affairs.
However, Steven Freeman, director of the Anti-Defamation League's legal affairs department, said the decision "gives a green light to groups seeking to proselytize American schoolchildren."
The American Jewish Committee also expressed its "profound disappointment" over a ruling that it said "defies common sense."
Sammie Moshenberg, director of the Washington office of the National Council of Jewish Women, called the decision "appalling."
The Supreme Court disagreed with a lower court's view that something that is "quintessentially religious or decidedly religious in nature cannot also be characterized properly as the teaching of morals and character development from a particular viewpoint."
The club takes its name both from the "good news" of Jesus' gospel and the "good news" that salvation is available through belief in Jesus.
In his dissent, Justice David Souter said Good News intended to use the school premises not only to discuss subjects from a Christian point of view, but for evangelical worship calling on children to commit themselves to an act of Christian conversion.
"If the majority's statement ignores reality, as it surely does, then today's holding may be understood only in equally generic terms," Souter wrote. "Otherwise, indeed, this case would stand for the remarkable proposition that any public school opened for civic meetings must be opened for use as a church, synagogue or mosque."
The court rejected the school's argument that elementary schoolchildren will think the school is endorsing the club and will feel coerced to participate.
Abba Cohen, director and counsel of Agudath Israel's Washington office, said he appreciates the potential for confusion if a program takes place immediately after school, but said safeguards could be developed to avoid that difficulty.
The blanket exclusion of religious groups from public facilities is not the right way to address the problem, Cohen said.
The ruling has important implications for the Orthodox Jewish community, Cohen explained, since their congregations often need to utilize public school facilities.
But the ADL's Freeman charged that religious groups could take advantage of a school and at least indirectly get their private clubs to seem as official as the school itself.
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