Religious Camp Brochures

Wednesday December 17, 2003

To what extent should a public school help community groups advance their religious agenda? This is a difficult question because, in principle, schools are expected to treat all community groups equally. This is fine when it comes to something passive, like renting out space, but what about something more active like handing out fliers that encourage students to join or attend something?

This debate is a live issue in Arizona where the Scottsdale School District refused to hand out fliers for a summer camp that promoted a religious agenda. The Southern Illinoisan reports:

[Joseph J.] Hills prepared a brochure to promote his nonprofit Desert Mountain Summer Camp. He offered 19 courses. Seventeen of them were devoted to such areas as camping, gymnastics, golf and elementary Spanish. The other two were classes in "Bible Heroes" and "Bible Tales." The former asked:

"Did you know... some of the greatest people who ever lived never had a home-run record? Never flew a plane or rode a train? Never starred in a motion picture (except Moses) and still do not have a Monday holiday named after them? It's true! Come, take an adventurous ride back into time with us. And learn about some ordinary people whose faith in GOD helped them accomplish extraordinary things! Remember Noah? Just how does a man build a boat that big? And Moses ... he gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'You da Man!' We will explore Bible heroes from both the Old and New Testaments, and of course we will learn about our greatest example, JESUS. We will explore this through play acting, and puppetry, costuming and set design. ..."

The course description in "Bible Tales" read in relevant part:

"We at Desert Mountain Summer Camp believe in a little something for everybody! That's why we have created this version of our Bible Heroes for the Little Guys and Gals! Did you know that if a child does not come to the knowledge of JESUS CHRIST and learn the importance of Bible reading by the age of 12, chances are slim that they ever will in this life? We think it is important to start as young as possible! We will Sing, Act, Dance and Relive some of the greatest stories ever told! And maybe ... we'll even have a surprise visit from Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber, the award-winning 'Veggie-Tales' guys!"

At first the flyer was approved, but school officials reconsidered and said that Hill would have to remove the religious portions; he refused and sued, but the Ninth Circuit Court sided with the school. They rejected the argument that the school had created a "limited public forum" which entitled religious groups to use the state to help them promote and spread their views directly in the material being distributed. It's one thing to hand out fliers for a camp which happens to have religious content, but another to distribute fliers which themselves contain a heavy religious content and proselytizing language.

Read More: