Good News Club v. Milford Central School: Teaching Morality from a Religious Perspective on School Premises after Hours

Abstract

INTRODUCTION|Can a religious-based club meet after school on school premises for the purpose of prayer, religious songs, scripture reading and religious instruction on moral issues? Can a school exclude such religious clubs from access to the school's facilities even if the school permits access by other groups for secular moral training? These are the questions at issue in Good News Club v. Milford Central School. In answering these related questions the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit both ruled that religiously based moral training is conceptually a different genre than secular moral training and consequently schools may exclude religious clubs from their limited public forums. The United States Supreme Court reversed, holding that excluding a club from the use of a school's limited public forum simply because the club taught morality through religious exercises constituted unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. The Court further held that such viewpoint discrimination cannot be justified on establishment reasoning. These two holdings provide significant insight into the Supreme Court's most recent attempt to reconcile the sometimes competing principles of religious free speech and establishment. The holdings also are important for anyone seeking to understand the Court's most recent interpretation of the Establishment Clause or seeking some moral understanding of the apparent conflict between free speech and establishment principles...