Pushback: Federal court rules against ban of Christian student group by San Jose Unified School District
San Jose Unified School District: Where Satan
worshipers are welcomed and Christians banned.
They’re coming for you next: On September 13, 2023 the Federal Ninth Circuit Court overturned a ban of the student group, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), by San Jose Unified School District, stating that the district cannot allow some groups it agrees with to meet on campus but ban religious groups it dislikes.
In April 2019, controversy erupted at the San Jose Unified School District’s Pioneer High School in California over a Fellowship of Christian Athletes requirement that student leaders comply with the group’s Statement of Faith and its Sexual Purity Statement. The former requires student leaders of the group to hew to the tenets of traditional Christian theology and the belief that “marriage is exclusively the union of one man and one woman,” while the latter affirms that “the appropriate place for sexual expression is in the context of a marriage relationship.” After a teacher complained about FCA’s faith requirements to the school principal and later presented his concerns to a school leadership “Climate Committee” composed of several school department chairs and administrators, the school revoked FCA’s official recognition as a school student club.
For the 2019-20 school year, FCA applied for recognition again and, predictably, was denied. Yet as the Ninth Circuit notes, the Satanic Temple Club, which even the complaining teacher believed was formed to mock FCA, was approved despite having its own set of non-religious “tenets” similar to FCA’s faith requirements.
For the past three years the FCA has been fighting this decision in the courts, even as it continued to meet on campus as an unrecognized club while facing harassment and protests, one of which required police action. At the same time San Jose put its policy into clear language [pdf], requiring “recognized student groups to permit any student to become a member or leader, if they meet non-discriminatory criteria.” Yet, while banning FCA because it did not want Satanists for example to belong and lead, it continued to allow other secular groups, such as its South Asian heritage and the Senior Women clubs, the right to limit membership based on ethnicity and gender.
The court’s decision [pdf] was blunt.
Individual preferences based on certain characteristics and criteria serve important purposes for these groups. It is hardly a leap of logic to say that the Senior Women club benefits from having all female members to help their members feel more comfortable. And it is understandable that other clubs require “good moral character.” But at the same time, it makes equal sense that a religious group be allowed to require that its leaders agree with the group’s most fundamental beliefs.
Simply put, there is no meaningful constitutionally acceptable distinction between the types of exclusions at play here. Whether they are based on gender, race, or faith, each group’s exclusionary membership requirements pose an identical risk to the District’s stated interest in ensuring equal access for all student to all programs.
Thus, the court ruled that if the school district insisted on a policy that required FCA to allow Satanists to join and lead it, then it had to also require women’s clubs to allow men to join and lead it as well. Such a policy of course makes no sense, and in fact violates the first amendment right of free association.
What San Jose will do now is unclear. It could recognize FCA and stop trying to enforce this idiotic non-discrimination policy. Or it could shut down all clubs and thus relieve itself of the problem. Expect the latter, though we should also expect the school district to finds ways under the table to allow its preferred student clubs, such as the Satanist Club, to operate on campus unmolested and with aid.
When that happens, we should then expect a new lawsuit.
I say, get your kids out of these public schools, now! Their administrators and faculty do not make your kids’ proper education their prime goal. Instead, their goal is purely political, pushing ideas that are almost evil. And if you think I am overstating the case, remember that this school district had no problem approving a Satanist club, and still maintains support groups for queers and Latinos.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
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4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
San Jose Unified School District: Where Satan
worshipers are welcomed and Christians banned.
They’re coming for you next: On September 13, 2023 the Federal Ninth Circuit Court overturned a ban of the student group, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), by San Jose Unified School District, stating that the district cannot allow some groups it agrees with to meet on campus but ban religious groups it dislikes.
In April 2019, controversy erupted at the San Jose Unified School District’s Pioneer High School in California over a Fellowship of Christian Athletes requirement that student leaders comply with the group’s Statement of Faith and its Sexual Purity Statement. The former requires student leaders of the group to hew to the tenets of traditional Christian theology and the belief that “marriage is exclusively the union of one man and one woman,” while the latter affirms that “the appropriate place for sexual expression is in the context of a marriage relationship.” After a teacher complained about FCA’s faith requirements to the school principal and later presented his concerns to a school leadership “Climate Committee” composed of several school department chairs and administrators, the school revoked FCA’s official recognition as a school student club.
For the 2019-20 school year, FCA applied for recognition again and, predictably, was denied. Yet as the Ninth Circuit notes, the Satanic Temple Club, which even the complaining teacher believed was formed to mock FCA, was approved despite having its own set of non-religious “tenets” similar to FCA’s faith requirements.
For the past three years the FCA has been fighting this decision in the courts, even as it continued to meet on campus as an unrecognized club while facing harassment and protests, one of which required police action. At the same time San Jose put its policy into clear language [pdf], requiring “recognized student groups to permit any student to become a member or leader, if they meet non-discriminatory criteria.” Yet, while banning FCA because it did not want Satanists for example to belong and lead, it continued to allow other secular groups, such as its South Asian heritage and the Senior Women clubs, the right to limit membership based on ethnicity and gender.
The court’s decision [pdf] was blunt.
Individual preferences based on certain characteristics and criteria serve important purposes for these groups. It is hardly a leap of logic to say that the Senior Women club benefits from having all female members to help their members feel more comfortable. And it is understandable that other clubs require “good moral character.” But at the same time, it makes equal sense that a religious group be allowed to require that its leaders agree with the group’s most fundamental beliefs.
Simply put, there is no meaningful constitutionally acceptable distinction between the types of exclusions at play here. Whether they are based on gender, race, or faith, each group’s exclusionary membership requirements pose an identical risk to the District’s stated interest in ensuring equal access for all student to all programs.
Thus, the court ruled that if the school district insisted on a policy that required FCA to allow Satanists to join and lead it, then it had to also require women’s clubs to allow men to join and lead it as well. Such a policy of course makes no sense, and in fact violates the first amendment right of free association.
What San Jose will do now is unclear. It could recognize FCA and stop trying to enforce this idiotic non-discrimination policy. Or it could shut down all clubs and thus relieve itself of the problem. Expect the latter, though we should also expect the school district to finds ways under the table to allow its preferred student clubs, such as the Satanist Club, to operate on campus unmolested and with aid.
When that happens, we should then expect a new lawsuit.
I say, get your kids out of these public schools, now! Their administrators and faculty do not make your kids’ proper education their prime goal. Instead, their goal is purely political, pushing ideas that are almost evil. And if you think I am overstating the case, remember that this school district had no problem approving a Satanist club, and still maintains support groups for queers and Latinos.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
“pushing ideas that are almost evil”
ain’t no “almost” about it.
All Most Evil . . . ?
Well So far on this Third Rock of Sol…..
China’s Laogai System and the methods of the CCP that flow into it — is More Evil……
But the Worst Known in “Modern” Times
Is North Korea… .
Starting at 5:00 min
https://youtu.be/hDlDppn__2A?si=H8GY80acZ2y1uNN8