An after-school Bible club’s effort to gain the same access as secular clubs in Oakland, California, public schools received a boost with a federal judge’s temporary injunction.
U.S. District Court Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. issued the injunction on Aug. 15 requiring Oakland school officials to give Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) NorCal East Bay after-school club access on an equal basis with clubs operated by non-religious groups.
Liberty Counsel, a religious liberty law firm, had filed a brief on behalf of CEF against the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell. Liberty Counsel says it will now seek a permanent injunction to guarantee Good News Clubs continue to receive the same access afforded other similar clubs.
According to the lawsuit, CEF applied for access on four different campuses over a two-year period but was denied on “religious grounds, pretextual schemes, and even by silence,” according to a Liberty Counsel news release. The district judge’s written opinion noted that one elementary school principal defended his opposition to CEF by stating, “[As] a public school, we are not in support of evangelism on our campus.”
Prior to the 2020 Covid shutdown, over 30 schools in the East Bay area held Good News Clubs across four campuses. The ministry sought to resume its Good News Clubs in early 2023 and submitted facility use applications through OUSD, but to no avail.
“These discriminatory denials violate the First and 14th Amendments and California state law,” Liberty Counsel said in a statement.
Gilliam agreed, writing that the “law and facts clearly favor” CEF and that the school district had violated CEF’s free speech rights. The judge went as far as saying OUSD is “simply wrong as a matter of well-established law”—noting the 2001 precedent in Good News Club v. Milford Central School, which ruled that public schools violate the constitution when they deny equal access and treatment to religious clubs when a school has provided access to secular clubs.
Good News Clubs typically meet weekly after school, using “trained and vetted” local Christian volunteers. CEF holds more than 3,000 Good News Clubs across all U.S. states for children ages 5-12 who have received written permission from parents to attend.
“The clubs provide religious and other teaching and activities to encourage learning, spiritual growth and service to others, as well as social, emotional, character and leadership development.”
Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver said: “This is a great victory for Child Evangelism Fellowship, parents, and the students in Oakland public schools. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that public schools cannot discriminate against Christian viewpoints regarding use of school facilities. Child Evangelism Fellowship gives children a Biblically based education that includes moral and character development. Good News Clubs should be in every public elementary school.”
