LOS ANGELES (CN) - A school board in Southern California cannot begin meetings with Christian prayer or recite Bible verses, a federal judge has ruled.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation challenged the practice of prayers before the Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education's meetings in a 49-page complaint filed in November 2014, in which it claimed "the meetings resemble a church service more than a school board meeting, complete with Bible readings by board members, Bible quotations by board members, and other statements by board members promoting the Christian religion."
Claiming that this practice violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the principle of separation of church and state, the foundation sought a permanent injunction to end the prayers and proselytizing.
Founded in 1860, the Chino Valley Unified School District serves approximately 32,000 students in the cities of Chino, Ontario, and Chino Hills in San Bernardino County. It has four high schools, five junior high schools and 23 elementary schools, several of which have been recognized for outstanding performance.
In October 2014, the district's board of education unanimously passed a policy to allow voluntary prayers from community clergy members before meetings, though it included stipulations that those present did not have to participate and that any prayers offered did not reflect an expression of the board's preference for any religion or denomination.
But several board members have offered opening prayers rather than clergy members. Members have also read Bible passages and made religious statements during meetings, according to U.S. District Judge Jesus Bernal's recitation of the "undisputed facts" in the case.
These religious statements include urging non-Christians to accept Jesus Christ; telling people to "have hope in Christ; saying that "I would just like to thank God for sending his son Jesus Christ so our sins would be forgiven but have eternal hope, and we'll stay together as we were on this earth but in eternal life in heaven" during a meeting; and telling the audience that "if we have confessed our sins and ask God's forgiveness, we simply need to keep a forward focus toward the goal of pleasing Christ."
Students also attend these meetings for various reasons, including Junior ROTC members presenting the colors, students giving presentations to the board, or those who attend for disciplinary reasons.
Parents often go to meetings with their children. Several of them sued on behalf of their minor children, along with at least two district employees, who sued anonymously to avoid retribution from the board.
In opposing the complaint, the board argued that all of the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue because they could not prove an actual, concrete injury. It also claimed the board members have legislative immunity for any past speech.
But Bernal sided with the plaintiffs, finding the prayers unconstitutional.
"We're very pleased because it's exactly what we wanted," plaintiffs' attorney David Kaloyanides of Chino told Courthouse News. "The judge did the right thing. Schools are different. And the school [board] here was way out of line."
Though a plaintiff must do more than observe that the government is committing a constitutional violation to have standing in an Establishment Clause context, "[t]he psychological feeling of being excluded or denigrated on a religious bases in one's own community is enough," Bernal wrote in his ruling.
