Molalla youth pastor barred from school

By DEBORAH DOMBROWSKI

MOLALLA -- When Jason Rhoads showed up recently at Molalla Middle School to visit kids from his youth group, police officers intercepted him at the main door.

They informed the 29-year-old youth pastor that he is no longer welcome at the school.

That action has received extensive attention in the region’s press and is now garnering national attention.

Two years ago, teens from Molalla’s Church of the Nazarene youth group invited Rhoads to visit them during their lunch breaks. Rhoads obtained needed permission, then began the visits. The students saw Rhoads as a non-threatening, non-judgmental friend, someone with whom they could have a good time, but also look up to as a positive role model. Lunchtime conversations centered on school, sports, parents and other teen-related topics.

“I was there as a friend,” Rhoads says. "I tried to meet them on their own level."

Once in a while a kid would ask Rhoads something about God. He would give a careful and brief answer, knowing he had certain limits while on the school grounds. One time a student, who had misunderstood a Bible verse, asked Rhoads if people who are left handed will go to hell. “He was referring to the Scripture where Jesus talked about those who sit on His right hand and on His left hand,” Rhoads recalled. “I tried to explain to him just what that meant. Most of the time, though, our talks were general life stuff. I wasn’t there to recruit kids or to convert them.”

In October, Rhoads received a letter from the principal of Molalla Middle School, stating that he would only be allowed to visit the students once a month. The letter also stated that the visiting days would have to be random so as not to give the impression that the school was endorsing a visit from a particular religious group.

On Nov. 3, as Rhoads headed down a hallway toward the cafeteria, he was stopped by the principal, who said he would have to leave. Rhoads explained that he was there on his monthly visit and he proceeded to the cafeteria. Moments later, a police officer, who was already on the school campus, ap-proached Rhoads and told him he could not stay. The officer escorted Rhoads to the sidewalk and told him to “work this out with the school.”

Since then, Rhoads has either found the school doors locked or, more recently, from one to three police officers waiting for him at the main entrance. The officers tell him he cannot enter the school.

Alice Ericksen, superintendent of the Molalla School District, believes the school is within its legal parameters. “Because Jason is a pastor of a particular religion,” she said, “We feel we would be endorsing that religion if we allowed him to continue regular visits.”

Ericksen says the goal is to protect any minorities that might be offended by the visits. The whole thing got started, Ericksen insists, when an unidentified student complained of feeling pressured to attend church. The superintendent ac-knowledges, though, that this was a student-to-student problem and that Rhoads had not tried to coerce any student into attending church.

During a meeting in which parents, local pastors and school board members attended, parents expressed their wishes for the youth pastor to continue visiting their children. However, an attorney for the school district told the group, “What parents need to understand is that when they drop off their children at school, they are surrendering them to the state.”

Ken Cooper, pastor of Molalla’s Cornerstone Church, believes this is just another example of misuse of the First Amendment. “School districts and attorneys are quick to point out the first part of the First Amendment,” Cooper said. “But they neglect to include the second part, which states Congress shall not prohibit the free exercise of religion. I find it interesting to note that schools are worried that a youth pastor mentioning God or the Bible might be overheard by other students who they say are ‘captive audiences.’

But what about the kids from Christian homes who are held as captive audience all day long to thoughts such as evolution and humanism and a constant undermining of parental values?”

News of Rhoads has spread nationwide. Ameri-can Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a legal defense group for religious rights, has agreed to aid Rhoads. “We are in the process of submitting a letter on behalf of Mr. Rhoads to the Molalla School Dis-trict,” stated a representative for ACLJ attorney Kevin Theriot.

“What this boils down to,” said Rhoads, “is whose interpretation of the law is right?” The school district, he says, will allow visitors on the school grounds to observe students and teachers, but insists the guidelines do not allow for interacting. Rhoads says the ACLJ has told him the school is misinterpreting the law and that he has a legal right to visit the kids from his youth group at lunch.

“I wasn’t looking for a fight,” Rhoads explained. “I just want to visit the kids who have asked me to come.”