Religious groups won the right to meet in grade schools as the result of a 2001 Supreme Court ruling. The evangelicals have taken advantage of this ruling by starting Good News Clubs in schools in several states. The clubs, which are sponsored by the Child Evangelism Fellowship, meet in classrooms after school for Bible lessons and other activities promoting the Fellowship's brand of Christianity. The meetings usually end by asking students to have a personal relationship with Jesus. The number of clubs is growing; there are now over 2500, a considerable increase over the 536 that were in operation in 2001. I really have nothing against people's attempts at spreading what they think is the word of God, as long as they do it in a reasonable manner. However, I do have some problems with the Good News Club.
Many club leaders are teachers; so they spend all day as a kid's teacher (building the usual student-teacher relationship) and then when the final bell rings, they became evangelists. We're talking elementary school kids here, kids that can be as young as 6. Can they distinguish between the teacher and the evangelist? Particularly, when the club may meet in the kid's regular classroom?
While, parental permission is required, the permission slip claims that membership in the club can "improve memory skills, grades, attitudes, and behavior at home and school". What proof of these claims exists is anyone's guess. And the teachers discussed in a Wall Street Journal article distribute these slips to current members asking them to recruit more members.
Are we not supposed to have separation of church and state in this country? Isn't this principle being violated when teachers proselytize their students in their classoom? When will this practice be challenged in the Supreme Court?
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