‘Good News Clubs’ Test School-Faith Ties
Parked just across from the Ponderosa Elementary School playground is the Christian-based Good News Club trailer, one of 19 clubs in the region.
“The ultimate goal of the Good News Club is to have every child that is enrolled, that attends is to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ,? Missionary Co-Director Terry Edwards said recently.
The hard-to-miss presence puts the club at the center of an often emotional debate: the role of religion in public schools.
“When the kids see that stuff parked out there, it entices them and makes them wonder exactly what it is,” said Crystal Frick. She believes it’s a distraction to her kids, potentially taking away from their academic studies.
School districts cannot deny after-school classroom space or public parking areas to a group based on religious beliefs.
The Good News Clubs were the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court decision back in 2001. Citing protection of free speech, the clubs were given the same access to school space as non-religious groups.
But the club’s close tie to public schools has drawn criticism from a nationally published author.
“They are insistent on establishing clubs inside public schools, just after the bell rings, to appear a seamless part of the school day,” said Katherine Stewart, author of The Good News Club: The Christian Right?s Stealth Assault on America?s Children.
Club organizers note that kids need a parent?s permission just to step inside a club.
“We cannot have just children come in and check it out — we’re not allowed to do that,” said Edwards.
Members, some elementary school-aged kids, are encouraged to bring other kids. Crystal’s daughter, Caitlyn, was asked by a friend last year.
“She was more inclined to go in because she had friends that were going,” said Frick.
Stewart says that creates school yard peer pressure that can go too far.
“I started to hear stories about how kids attending the clubs were targeting their non-Christian peers for what I can only describe as faith based bullying,” said Stewart.
Bend-La Pine Schools officials say there have been virtually no conflicts locally, but certainly there are questions.
Perhaps that’s inevitable, at the intersection of faith and public schools.
