The Elephant in the Room

     This past Tuesday I had a meeting with a pastor and a local school principal in Chicagoland. The school is in a small, mostly-middle-class district in the suburbs. Meeting with principals and pastors is nothing new to me as I work trying to help churches start Crossroads Kids Clubs inside of their neighborhood schools. However, what was unusual about this particular meeting was that the principal very directly and very early in the conversation brought up his concerns about working with a church. It didn't seem like he was against working with a church personally, but he did have some concerns about the separation of church and state. I was actually very glad that he brought this issue up so early and so directly because otherwise the church-state issue can be the elephant in the room.
     In the course of the conversation, I explained that we do not want a formal partnership or affiliation with the school because those things would likely be a violation of the Constitution as the courts have interpreted it. However, the courts have made it very clear that a school should be religiously neutral and not religion-free. When a school allows an outside group to use its facilities, it has created a "limited public forum." It is limited in the sense that the topics may be limited but the viewpoints expressed may not. What this means practically is that if Scouts are in a school (and they are in this one), then Crossroads Kids Club should be treated exactly like the Scouts. This is because by allowing an outside group like a scout troop to use space, the school has created a limited public forum. As it turns out scouting is about character formation. Crossroads Kids Club is a Christian character formation club. We teach children to live and act according to biblical teaching. The fact that we are teaching character from a Christian perspective is a viewpoint, which is protected by the free speech clause of the First Amendment.
     I realized something after speaking with this principal though. I want to be in a position not only to explain these things, but I would also like to make sure that we operate in such a way so that we keep educational leaders out of any potential trouble. This particular principal was very cautious. Others though have thrown caution to the wind. It is important in establishing a relationship of trust with the school that we protect them and use the knowledge we have to make sure that they don't unintentionally get themselves into some hot water by appearing to endorse a particular faith. In other words, we want to uphold the Constitution, which simultaneously prohibits the state from establishing or endorsing a religious perspective and protects the free exercise of religion and the freedom to express our convictions in public places, including schools.