School Forced to Accept Christian Club --A Profile of Discrimination

A federal appellate court has ruled that a California high school must allow a club for Christian athletes requiring participants to sign a "sexual purity" statement opposing homosexuality to meet on campus as an official student group. 

This week, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes over a dispute surrounding its efforts to regain official recognition at Pioneer High School in San Jose.

The argument made by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and that made by the public school district, is a microcosm of the division in our country today.

A Trump-appointed judge wrote for the majority ruling. That too is revealing.

I will be talking more about this case and President Biden's speech last night about saving the soul of America on our radio program this morning.

Be informed, not misled.

A 2-1 opinion authored by Judge Kenneth Lee contends that the San Jose Unified School District violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by revoking FCA's status as an official student club at its high schools in 2019.

While the school district cited concerns that the club's "sexual purity" statement and "statement of faith" constituted violations of the district's non-discrimination policy, Lee wrote that the school district approved other student clubs whose constitutions limited membership based on gender identity and ethnicity. 

The judge, appointed to the bench by former President Donald Trump, identified the district's approval of the Senior Women of Leland High School — open only to girls — as an example of this phenomenon.

"Under the First Amendment, our government must be scrupulously neutral when it comes to religion: It cannot treat religious groups worse than comparable secular ones," Lee wrote in the majority opinion. "But the School District did just that."

This case reflects just how divided our country is at this time, and what actually divides us---It's the most fundamental moral beliefs.

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes takes a stand.

This is not the first time FCA has been challenged by the secular left regarding their beliefs.

A similar issue occurred in the Bozeman Montana school district. 

The FCA's "sexual purity" statement declares, "God desires His children to lead pure lives of holiness." The statement also highlights the Bible's teachings that "the appropriate place for sexual expression is in the context of the marriage relationship" and that "the biblical definition of marriage is one man and one woman in a lifelong commitment."

"While upholding God's standard of holiness, FCA strongly affirms God's love and redemptive power in the individual who chooses to follow Him. FCA's desire is to encourage individuals to trust in Jesus and turn away from any impure lifestyle," the statement concluded.

This is, of course, a problem for the secular Left.

The secular Left objects to FCA's moral biblical beliefs.

In dissent, Obama-appointed Judge Morgan Christen contended that the FCA lacks standing to "seek prospective preliminary relief, and our court lacks jurisdiction over this preliminary injunction appeal."

"It is uncontested that student groups like FCA must reapply each fall for official ASB recognition. It is also uncontested that only student club leaders may apply," Christen wrote. 

"Because the District’s nondiscrimination policy cannot cause a real or immediately impending injury to FCA if no students apply for ASB recognition, FCA cannot establish standing without evidence that a Pioneer FCA student has applied, or intends to apply, for ASB recognition for the upcoming school year. FCA failed to make that showing."

FCA's statement of faith contains similar language, asking members to affirm the beliefs that "God's design for sexual intimacy is to be expressed only within the context of marriage," and that "God instituted marriage between one man and one woman as the foundation of the family and the basic structure of human society" and that "marriage is exclusively the union of one man and one woman."

This is a real problem for the secular progressive activists who only embrace "relativism" while rejecting God's absolute, fixed moral order.

What caused the school district to take action against FCA?

One teacher.

FCA was an official student club at three San Jose Unified School District high schools for over a decade before Pioneer High School social studies teacher Peter Glasser became aware of the FCA's statement of faith and sexual purity statement.

Glasser took issue with the club's proclamation that "[t]he Bible is clear in teaching on sexual sin including sex outside of marriage and homosexual acts."

Glasser also opposed the statements' insistence that "neither heterosexual sex outside of marriage nor any homosexual act constitutes an alternative lifestyle acceptable to God."

The FCA also required its officers to affirm that if they are "found being involved in a lifestyle that does not conform to FCA's Sexual Purity Statement," they will need to step down from their FCA leadership position. 

This was more than Glasser could handle, so he took action.

He posted the FCA statements on the whiteboard in his classroom, writing that he is "deeply saddened that a club on Pioneer's campus asks its members to affirm these statements."

In an email to the school's principal, Glasser shared additional concerns about FCA's beliefs stating that "God approves only of relationships between one man and one woman" and that "God assigns our gender identities at birth based on the physical parts He gives us." 

This, as he would have expected, caused a reaction from fully-indoctrinated students who agree with his anti-biblical beliefs.

Glasser's email led to a discussion among the school's Climate Committee, a group of school leaders including principals and department heads, which culminated with the revocation of the FCA as an official school club. Glasser thought that the organization's "views on LGBTQ+ identity infringe on the rights of others in my community to feel safe and enfranchised on their own campus, even infringing on their very rights to exist."

The Climate Committee determined that the FCA statements violated school district policy requiring that "[a]ll district programs and activities within a school under the jurisdiction of the superintendent of the school district shall be free from discrimination, including harassment, with respect to the actual or perceived ethnic group, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, color, race, ancestry, national origin, and physical or mental disability, age or sexual orientation."

While FCA continued to operate on campus despite lacking recognition as an official club, the organization experienced hostility from school officials, members of the school newspaper, and the student community as a whole.

Students from the school newspaper took "rapid-fire" photos of participants at FCA meetings and every meeting attracted protests from the student body. Teachers at the school, including Glasser, sought to "ban FCA completely from campus." 

Takeaway

Jesus' response is found in the book of John.

John 15:18-27: 18: 

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.

He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.