The Following Content Has Been Provided by:Bob Unruh
School district officials in Holdingford, Minnesota, have been caught running a “pay to pray” scheme, and the American Center for Law and Justice is calling them out on it.
“Pay to pray” is when schools charge Christian students a fee for using their facilities for a student-led Bible club, while giving free access to all other groups.
“This case matters because if schools can silence Emma’s Bible study by unequally charging fees based on viewpoint, then anyone can be forced to PAY for their FREE speech. This unconstitutional framework prohibits students and citizens from fully living out their religious convictions,” the legal team from the American Center for Law and Justice explained. “Our schools must remain open forums for all students – not hostile environments where only secular voices are welcome.”
The ACLJ reported the district’s actions violate the First Amendment rights of its client, Emma, a 9th-grader.
She is charged fees by the school for holding a Christian Bible study club even though other groups, the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and 4-H, get free use of the buildings.
“It’s essentially a policy of ‘Pay to Pray.’”
The legal team’s response was to send a demand letter to the school “requiring officials to immediately stop their unlawful discrimination. Emma’s club must be treated the same as other student groups and allowed to use school facilities without unconstitutional fees or restrictions. If the district refuses, the ACLJ is prepared to go to court. We will not allow unconstitutional hostility toward religion in our schools to stand,” the ACLJ said.
The fight started earlier this year when Emma asked for permission to start a student Bible study club.
The school responded, with “hostility and unconstitutional restrictions. The principal delayed her ability to meet, blocked her from hosting a See You at the Pole prayer gathering, a constitutional violation, and told her she would have to pay a fee per meeting to use the school library, yet another violation,” the ACLJ said.
They insisted fees were proper because Emma’s group was a “church,” rather than a student-run club.
“Congress passed the Equal Access Act specifically to stop this type of religious discrimination in public schools. The Supreme Court confirmed its constitutionality in Westside Board of Education v. Mergens, a case argued by ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow. There, the Court held that schools cannot exclude or burden religious clubs simply because of their faith-based message,” the ACLJ pointed out.
The Supreme Court said at the time, “If a State refused to let religious groups use facilities open to others, then it would demonstrate not neutrality but hostility toward religion.”
