Seth Udinski, FISM News
A big win for religious freedom took place earlier this week in two unlikely spheres – a public high school, and the ultra-liberal state of California.
On Monday, the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upended a 2019 ruling which allowed Pioneer High School in San Jose to deny the Christian student group, Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), to participate as a school club. The case centered around FCA’s statement of sexual purity, which it asks all joining students to sign upon admission.
Included in the statement is a renunciation of homosexuality as a perversion of God’s original design for human sexuality. The statement read, in part,
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 court voted 2-1 in favor of reversing this 2019 ruling, granting FCA its right to operate as a club against the wishes of the school district.
Former Donald Trump appointee, Judge Kenneth Lee, presided over the ruling. He said,
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. But the School District did just that.
Reports indicate that the FCA continued to function during its probation at the school, even though it was not recognized by the district as a club. Christian students were allegedly harassed and meetings disrupted, sometimes even by teachers.