Court OKs Bible study club at school, with condition

OAKRIDGE -- A federal court ruled last month that a Bible-teaching club can continue to meet after school at a grade school in this Lane County town, but also ruled that the school’s teachers don’t have to distribute the parental permission slips required to attend the meetings.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Aug. 7 upheld a lower-court ruling allowing the Good News Club to meet at the school. In the latest ruling, the court cited a June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that if after-school groups such as Boy Scouts or 4-H can use a school as a meeting hall after hours, so can Bible study groups.

The Good News Club was represented in the case by the Virginia-based Center for Law & Religious Freedom and Beaverton lawyer Herbert Grey. Oakridge School District was represented by Portland lawyer Chrys Martin.

The club has met at Oakridge Elementary since November 1996, when U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan of Eugene granted a temporary injunction allowing the club to gather there. In January 1999 Hogan issued a permanent injunction that was then appealed by the school district.

The appeals court determined that teachers can’t be required to distribute parental permission slips for the club because doing so would seem to indicate teachers’ endorsement of the Bible study.

According to a report in the Eugene Register-Guard newspaper, the issue

of the permission slips was the biggest concern of the school district. Martin said the district has no plans to appeal the latest ruling.

Grey said the club was pleased overall to be allowed continued access to the school, but was troubled by the ruling regarding the permission slips.

He said, however, that he didn't know whether the club would appeal.

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