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VOL. 14, NO. 2 | FALL 2018 A PUBLICATION OF CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY Public Schools and Religious Freedom ALSO IN THIS ISSUE Bringing Good News to Elementary-Age Children by Wayne and Diane Rautio Religious Liberty for Public School Teachers: Rights and Limitations by Jessica Ross and Theresa Sidebotham Answering God’s Call for Christian Leadership by Julia C. Payne FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR America … 1984 … Reagan was president; the to use campus buildings for their meetings could not Ethiopian famine was on everyone’s mind; MTV was deny equal access to religious student groups. A few born; the Olympics were held in Los Angeles (and boy- years later, the Court upheld the same principles in cotted by the U.S.S.R.); and movies likeGhostbusters , the landmark case, Board of Education of Westside The Karate Kid, and Splash were in cinema theaters. Community Schools v. Mergens, 496 U.S. 226 (1990) And, to give you another perspective, the incoming 1L ruling that the Equal Access Act was constitutional. class of today’s law students won’t be born for 12 more CLS—a small group of Christian lawyers responding years. to a changing culture—helped keep the doors open David Nammo, CLS, in the early 80s, made a big impact while advo- for the sharing of the Gospel. In the 1990s, we fought Executive Director cating for religious freedom. The result was protection for and helped lead a coalition to pass the Religious and CEO in the public schools for religious students who simply Freedom Restoration Act and then later did the same wanted to meet to study Scripture and encourage one with the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized another in an increasingly hostile public school setting. Persons Act. And now we are leading the fight to pro- CLS also helped protect those doing evangelistic work tect the rights of Christians who practice law by oppos- in the name of Jesus—Child Evangelism Fellowship, ing ABA Model Rule 8.4(g). Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Young Life, and so The Lord needs a faithful remnant, and it is this rem- many more—all of whom have been able to reach a nant in the law—those Christians who see their call- generation of kids. ing on a daily basis, who make a difference not only in Back then, as a result of a few misguided lower court de- their practices, but also by coming together to be the cisions, public schools were banning students’ religious Christian Legal Society—that has changed the course speech and ignoring their First Amendment rights. As of this country, mentoring over a generation of law stu- a result, CLS took the lead to help draft, lobby, and dents and seeking justice for the poor and the needy. build a coalition to pass the Equal Access Act—which Whether you are new to CLS or have been around essentially requires public secondary schools to allow since the early days, thank you for being a part—in student religious groups to meet for religious speech, membership, fellowship, prayers, and so many other prayer, and Bible study on the same basis as other stu- ways. CLS has always urged its members to be faith- dent groups. Under the Act, if the school allows one ful in walking through the “open doors” that cur- noncurriculum club to meet in the school, it must give rently exist to bring the Good News into the public equal access to meeting space, the school newspaper, schools. Each of the articles in this issue focuses on a yearbook, and public address system, etc. to all clubs. specific “open door” including the Equal Access Act, The Equal Access Act drew a line in the sand to require released-time, and after-school Good News Clubs. A public school administrators to stop discriminating primary purpose of this magazine is to encourage CLS against religious student groups. The Act was passed to members to pray for and support these ministries in apply Widmar v. Vincent, 454 U.S. 263 (1981) to pub- their local schools through their time, talent, finances, lic schools. In Widmar, the U.S. Supreme Court found and prayer. The fields are ripe for the harvest. public universities that allowed student organizations The Christian Lawyer® is a publication of: Editor-in-Chief: Laura Nammo Manuscript Policy Christian Legal Society Design and Production: Courtney Herron We encourage the submission of article and 8001 Braddock Road, Suite 302 Editorial Email: [email protected] story ideas by our readers. For a copy of our Springfield, VA 22151 Advertising in The Christian Lawyer® does editorial guidelines, please write or send ChristianLegalSociety.org not imply editorial endorsement. Opinions an e-mail to [email protected]. Unsolicited 703-642-1070 expressed in The Christian Lawyer® are solely manuscripts and poetry are not accepted. A the responsibility of the authors and are not query letter must be sent first to clshq@clsnet. For advertising inquiries, necessarily those of the editors or members of org describing a proposed manuscript. Any email [email protected]. Christian Legal Society. unsolicited manuscripts will not be returned. ii IN THIS ISSUE Public Schools and Religious Freedom Bringing Good News to Elementary-Age Children. .3 Wayne and Diane Rautio Religious Freedom in Schools ......................................................6 Kim Colby Public School and Church Partnerships That Have Stood the Test of Time . and the Courts ..................................................................11 Grayson Hartgrove What Should Children Know About the Study of Religion—and By What Age? .....16 Benjamin P. Marcus Religious Liberty for Public School Teachers: Rights and Limitations . 20 Jessica Ross and Theresa Sidebotham Answering God’s Call for Christian Leadership ....................................25 Julia C. Payne ATTORNEY MINISTRIES The Wonder and Weight of Our Calling ......................27 Connie Bourne LAW STUDENT MINISTRIES Tyranny, Professional Ethics, and the Role of the American Lawyer .....................................................31 Mike Schutt CENTER FOR LAW & RELIGIOUS FREEDOM Real Sustenance in the Masterpiece Cakeshop Decision .....34 Kim Colby CHRISTIAN LEGAL AID My Journey to Legal Aid ....................................39 Eka Akpakip Fleming Chapter Event Highlights ................................... 42 Attorney Chapters ......................................... 44 Christian Legal Aid Clinics .................................. 46 Bringing Good News to Elementary-Age Children BY WAYNE AND DIANE RAUTIO In 1998, when we arrived at the regional office for Child ethnic diversity of Fairfax County has exploded in the past Evangelism Fellowship of Northern Virginia, no Good News twenty years. In 2012, half of the 180,000 students in Fairfax Clubs were meeting on a weekly basis in Northern Virginia pub- County Public Schools spoke a foreign language at home, lic schools. Twenty years later, Good News Clubs meet weekly at including Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, Arabic, Mandarin over 50 Northern Virginia public schools. That only happened Chinese, or any of 160 languages found in the county.1 because of prayer, patience, wisdom, training, and legal help. Our previous experience working as missionaries in other What follows is a short version of the story, including some le- countries was tremendous training for working in the pub- gal background, as well as information about how people who lic schools of Northern Virginia. The Clubs are multicultural are called can become involved in this national effort to reach and reflect the ethnic diversity of their school populations. children with the Good News that God loves them. Working overseas, we had learned to be flexible, adaptable, and accepting of other cultures. We knew better than to try What Are Good News Clubs? to “Americanize” children or their families but instead had By way of background, we should explain that Child Evangelism learned to meet them where they were. Fellowship (“CEF”) is the largest evangelistic outreach to chil- dren in the world and is active in numerous countries, including Persistence the United States and Canada. Since 1937, CEF has been giving After having arrived in 1998, we pondered where to begin to children the opportunity to learn about the Bible, pray, and fel- start Clubs in the schools. Then one day the phone rang. And lowship through its Good News Clubs. In schools that have a rang again. Our administrative assistant was surprised because Club meeting after school, children in grades K-6 can meet for she claimed “the phone had never rung before.” The callers an hour each week to hear a Bible story, sing songs, eat a snack, were a Hispanic family with a child at a Fairfax County public and play games that reinforce the Bible lesson. elementary school. They had heard about Good News Clubs No child may attend any Club meeting without a written per- and wanted to help start a Club in their local school. They mission slip signed by his or her parent or guardian. The Clubs attended our training classes to learn how to run a Good News are led by volunteer adults and teens who have been trained by Club. Among the many things that we taught them were the CEF’s paid staff to share God’s Word systematically and clearly legal “dos” and “don’ts” of meeting after school in the public so that the children have the opportunity to become disciples of schools, as well as the required best practices in child safety and Jesus Christ. Through skillfully presented lessons, the children protection. are encouraged to grow in grace and faith and to share the Good Another family in the area contacted our office and ended up News with their family, friends, and acquaintances. CEF has 700 coming for several training sessions. The result was another Club full-time workers and approximately 40,000 volunteers in the in another public school with three or four students attending. United States and Canada, many of whom help train volunteer Over the years that Club grew to having twenty students.

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