Decision in Good News Bible Club

[Mark Graber]

But notice this applies different rules to religion, since the school may say the chess club is more (or less) important than the stamp club.  In short, I take it there is now generaly agreement that schools cannot constitutionally treat religious clubs the way other clubs are treated.

MAG

>>> conlawprof at YAHOO.COM 06/12/01 11:42AM >>>
Mark asks how do we decide to allocate scarcity if
both the chess club and the Good News Club wants the
same room at the same time. Answer, by adopting
content- and viewpoint-neutral rules such as "first to
sign up gets the room" or by flipping a coin.
Certainly, "Christians go to the back of the bus"
won't work.

--Rick Duncan

--- Mark Graber <MGRABER at GVPT.UMD.EDU> wrote:
> But schools do have mandatory good taste rules
> advertising rules for clubs.  And the question is
> how do you apply them to religious clubs, since the
> language tends to be very vague.  Notice also
> another problem.  There is a bit of a room shortage.
>  The chess club and the stamp club both ask for a
> favorite time.  The school can, I imagine prefer the
> chess club.  Suppose the request is between the
> chess club and Christian Bible club.  What result or
> at least what determines the result.
>
> MAG
>
> >>> VOLOKH at MAIL.LAW.UCLA.EDU 06/12/01 11:20AM >>>
>         I agree with Mark's implicit claim that the
> English teacher,
> speaking in class, may well be barred from endorsing
> (or disapproving of)
> the Bible Club, even though he may endorse (or
> disapprove of) the Chess
> Club.  The government is indeed constrained in its
> religious speech.
>
>         But I'm not sure I quite understand why we
> should be concerned about
> the Christian Bible Club advertising to high school
> students, any more than
> we should be concerned about the Young Democrats
> Club or the
> Environmentalist Club or the Gay-Straight Student
> Alliance (which has quite
> rightly been asserting its rights in certain schools
> in recent years).  If
> the Christian Bible Club wants to say that prayer
> improves your chance of
> going to Heaven or lessens your chance of going to
> hell, or the
> Environmentalist Club wants to say that SUV drivers
> are irresponsible, or
> the PETA Club wants to say that eating meat is
> tantamount to murder, I
> suspect that this will decrease rather than increase
> their membership.  But
> I don't see it as a reason to ban advertising or
> even to impose mandatory
> "good taste" rules (though perhaps some such rules,
> if crafted in a
> viewpoint-neutral and reasonably nondiscretionary
> way, may be constitutional
> or even good ideas) -- and, more relevant to this
> thread, I certainly don't
> it as a reason to exclude religious clubs.
>
>         Eugene
>
> Mark Graber writes:
>
> > I presume Good News applies to high schools as
> well as elementary schools.
> >
> > In many high schools, after-school clubs are
> allowed to advertise on the
> > school property.  Many advertisements are of the
> cute variety, not merely
> > declaring Chess Club, Tuesday, in room 113, but
> using visuals and humor to
> > attract adherents.  They are also subject to rules
> of good taste. I
> > presume most people think the Christian Bible Club
> is not exception, that
> > they ought to be allowed to advertise.  Are they
> also subject to rules of
> > good taste?  What are they.  If the chess club may
> advertise that chess
> > improves your analytical skills, may the Christian
> Club advertise that
> > prayer improves your chance of going to Heaven or
> lessens your chance of
> > going to hell.  I presume the math teacher is
> constitutionally allowed to
> > agree with the chess club's claim and in class
> state, "joining the chess
> > club is a good idea." May the English teacher
> agree with the Christian
> > Club's claim.
> >
> > Mark A. Graber
> > mgraber at gvpt.umd.edu


=====
"Do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm."
    --President George W. Bush (quoting John Page)

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