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Judges uphold ruling barring Scout recruiting
Religion and Boy Scouts in Portland Public Schools April, 1997 -- What has turned out to be our most ambitious project started with an innocent looking sheet of paper. That single sheet kicked into action an "angry housewife." The sheet was sent home by the Portland Public Schools asking parents to sign their sons up for a YMCA basketball program. However as one read on, the paper disclosed the mission statement of the YMCA: to promote Christianity. CRT member Nancy Powell did not take kindly to the cooperation by the school to enlist members for any organization which openly promotes religion. She obtained the guidelines of the Portland Public School System regarding this subject. These rules clearly forbid such entanglements between the schools and organizations as the YMCA and the Boy Scouts. She then spoke with the school principal, whose position was not that the school was wrong, but only that Mrs. Powell's son would not be exposed to further proselytizing. A few days later, her 6-year-old son Remington came home wearing a hospital-type plastic bracelet with the message that her son was invited to join the Cub Scouts, an arm of the Boy Scouts for boys too young for the regular Scouting program. This time it was simply too much. There is no question but that the Boy Scouts of America discriminates against Atheists. It is not possible for a boy from an Atheist family to join Boy Scouts or Cub Scouts -- unless the family has no objection to the religious indoctrination that is a central part of Scouting and unless the family allows their son to take a god-oath at every meeting. Nancy again objected to the school principal. It was becoming obvious that this sort of thing would continue, protests or no protests. Mrs. Powell started up the chain of command, step by step, until she finally contacted the School Board itself. At every stage, she pointed out to the various officials that solicitations of this type violate the Board's written policies which prohibit the schools' entanglement with exclusionary organizations that are engaged in religious advocacy. When she reached the School Board level she spoke with Mark Abrahms who promised to look into it. Before reaching Mr, Abrahms, Nancy was met at every step with such statements as, "Why are you so opposed to the Boy Scouts?" She patiently explained that she has no such opposition; in fact, she supports the right of any organization to have whatever rules for admission that they want. What this mother was objecting to was the entanglement of our secular school system with religious organizations, and the schools' violation of its own guidelines. Incredibly, the school officials simply denied that either the Scouts or the YMCA were advocates for religion. The denials are doubly amazing considering that each of these organizations proudly proclaims its religious connection. For example, the Scout oath which is recited at every meeting starts, "On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country." Then, Mrs. Powell made a surprising discovery. Both the national and local Parent Teachers Associations support her position. In fact, the PTA claims that every school official has been mailed official PTA guidelines mentioning that the PTA discourages any entanglement of public schools with the Boy Scouts. Not one person in the school system's chain of command had ever mentioned that fact. It was only through diligent searching that Mrs. Powell discovered this amazing statement. Lanny Swerdlow, CRT president, has arranged for Lou Fredericks, spokesman for the Portland Public School System to speak to us about this issue at our April 8 meeting. Mr. Swerdlow issued a press release and there was an explosion of interest by the newspapers. First, an Oregonian reporter called and interviewed Mrs. Powell, sending a photographer to her home to get pictures of this mother and her children who are in the center of this controversy. Next, the Associated Press picked up the story followed by Willamette Week and the Portland Alliance. The newspapers papers will have reporters at the meeting. The Oregonian will have an article prior to the meeting and seating may be at a premium. We will be taping the whole proceedings for a later Bunk Busters television show. One thing more that particularly struck Mrs. Powell was that two of the reporters who called her mentioned that they were only surprised that nobody has raised this issue before. Whether you regularly attend meetings or not, this is a "must" meeting which involves no stranger, but one of our own. We must stand united to show our support for this cause. Please remember that all CRT meetings start promptly at 7:30 p.m.
A Portland woman says the Boy Scouts' insistence on loyalty to God makes them discriminatory The Boy Scouts of America says you can't be "the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God." A Portland mom says that's a bunch of hooey and shouldn't be allowed in Portland Public Schools. Nancy Powell, an atheist, is so outraged by the Scouts' use of school property that she plans to stage a protest Thursday in front of PPS headquarters. Powell became upset last spring when her 6-year-old son came home from Harvey Scott Elementary School with a BSA flyer inviting him to become a Cub Scout. In order to do so, however, he would have had to take an oath pledging his willingness to perform his "duty to God." Powell says her son cried when he learned that "our kind" aren't welcome in the Scouts. The boy's troubles continued, his mom says, when he was ridiculed by classmates who believe in God. "My son has had to experience a vicious kind of discrimination in the very place I send him every day with the assumption that school staff is there supporting him and not joining in the religious hatred," says Powell. "We believe in science, not in supernatural beings. I find it offensive to be told we're not good Americans because we don't believe in God." Portland school officials routinely give the Boy Scouts free access to school buildings, along with 4H Clubs, Girl Scouts, Campfire Girls and the YMCA, on the condition that activities "shall not include religious instruction, religious services or political efforts." Religious and political activities are not necessarily prohibited, however, if the group pays for use of school grounds. Jeffrey Millner, a lawyer who is researching the matter for school officials, says that in 1993 a federal court in Illinois upheld the right of public schools to allow the BSA on their property. "The district's practice of making information available about community organizations doesn't violate the law," says Millner. "The Boy Scouts are a community organization, and like any other community organization, they can disseminate information through the schools as appropriate." Powell, who sees the Boy Scouts as a religious organization, notes that Portland school officials do not allow employers who practice discrimination to recruit students on school property. That policy has been used to bar military recruiters from schools because the military discriminates against gays. Powell wants the same rationale extended to the Scouts, because she says they discriminate against people who don't believe in God. "If you go to the dictionary and look it up, it is discrimination," says Duane Rhodes, director of field services for the Boy Scouts of America Cascade Pacific Council. "From the beginning, a belief in God has been a condition of membership. The Boy Scouts of America doesn't tell people what god to believe in...but belief in God is a condition of membership. We reserve the right to set our own standards of conduct and membership." Powell is not contesting the right of the Boy Scouts to set their own standards. If they want to discriminate against the godless, that's their prerogative, she says. They just shouldn't be allowed to do it in the schools. "My beef isn't with the Boy Scouts, but with discrimination," Powell says. "The Boy Scouts has a right to be as narrow-minded and discriminatory as it chooses. But not on school property." Powell says she's staging her protest to show school officials she isn't going to let the matter drop. Since bringing her concerns to school officials last April, she claims to have been ignored. "It's been suggested to me that the Portland School Board is simply dragging its heels hoping I will go away," she says. "If that is the case I can assure them that this will never happen."
ATHEIST MOM OPPOSING SCOUT RECRUITING, BIAS IN PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS Nancy Powell is like a lot of mothers in Portland, Oregon. She's got a couple of kids enrolled at the local public elementary school; son Remington, at 7, sports a Nike tee-shirt and was curious about the local Boy Scouting program. Nancy's other child, Kat, is age-6 and enrolled, along with her brother, at the Scott Elementary School in Northeast Portland. A few more years, and Nancy joins the ranks of American mothers which focus group watchers like to call "soccer moms," but with an important exception. -- Nancy and her family are atheists. And she is standing firm in opposing the Portland public school's policy of permitting organizations like the Boy Scouts and the Little League which require an oath of religious belief, to recruit. Last week, Ms. Powell filed the first complaint ever received by the State of Oregon about the Boy Scouts having access to public schools; she argues that the practice constitutes a clear violation of state-church separation, and violates state and federal laws, as well as the local school district's own regulations. "I had to tell my sobbing son, 'I'm sorry, but our kind is not welcome'," Powell recounted last week to the Portland, Oregonian newspaper. Discrimination against Atheists Many organizations, including the Boy Scouts, enjoy official or quasi-official status as the result of special chartering recognition by the Congress, and their relationship with public entities. Powell's case in Oregon is not the first time that atheists and others have challenged that relationship, charging that the government has no business promoting groups that discriminate against non-belief. Margaret Downey, a Philadelphia area freethinker, protested the Scout policy under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act. As part of terms of settlement agreement, the BSA offered her the opportunity to apply as an adult volunteer without requiring her to acknowledge a belief in any god. In Illinois, Atheist activist Rob Sherman has challenged the Scouts on several grounds, pointing out that the governments shouldn't be providing facilities to the discriminatory organization The Scouts are clear about where they stand on the matter of religious belief -- a fact which Nancy Powell documents with stacks of Scouting materials, including pamphlets and membership applications where were distributed at the local public school and brought home by her children. Last spring, Remy was given a pamphlet at school inviting him to become a Cub Scout. To join, however, he would be required to swear an oath of his "duty to God." Powell told local media, "My son has had to experience a vicious kind of discrimination in the very place I send him every day with the assumption that school staff is there supporting him and not joining in the religious hatred." She adds "We believe in science, not in supernatural beings. I find it offensive to be told we're not good Americans because we don't believe in God." Sanctioned Discrimination? Powell is careful to distinguish between positive aspects of the Scouting program, and the fact that they discriminate against non-believers, and are supported by government institutions like the public schools. In Portland as in many communities throughout the country, the Boy Scouts program receives free access to school facilities with the provision that any activities "shall not include religious instruction, religious services or political efforts." Even so, Powell points out that a requirement for membership in the Boy Scouts and several other groups is a belief in a god. "My beef isn't with the Boy Scouts," she notes, "but with discrimination. The Boy Scouts has a right to be as narrow-minded and discriminatory as it chooses, but not on school property." Press Conference, Action Last Thursday, Nancy Powell and her family held a press conference in front of the Portland Public Schools office on Dixon Street. In her handout to the media, Powell notes that the Boy Scouts of America require a belief in a deity for all members, who must sign the "Declaration of Religious Principles," and the fact that the Scouting oath begins with "On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country..." Even the application for the Cub Scout packs has religious tests. The "Tiger Cub Promise" reads, "I promise to love God, my family and my country, and to learn about the world." And a BSA manual warns parents that "Leadership is restricted to qualified adults who subscribe to the Declaration of Religious Principle..." and "The Boy Scouts of America recognizes the importance of religious faith and duty..." Ms. Powell also told the media that the aggressive solicitation carried out by the scouts in the schools during schools hours, violated State and City law. Ms. Powell and her family have been fighting the discriminatory policy of the local schools for several months. In April 1997, she contacted officials including the Superintendent of the Portland Public Schools, John Bierwirth and addressed a meeting of the local School Board. She was well prepared, and produced numerous exhibits including applications for the various scouting groups (all requiring a religious test for membership), copies of legal statutes, and resolutions by groups condemning the discriminatory policy of the BSA by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Unitarians and others. "It is incontrovertible," said Powell, "that BSA discriminates both on the bases of requiring a god belief and practicing an anti-homosexual bias." Either practice, she insists, should disqualify the scouts or any other similar group from recruiting through the school system. Aggressive Proselytizing? The Boy Scouts aren't the only offenders in discriminating against atheists, and receiving the support of local public school authorities. Powell found out that the Little League has a prayer -- something she discovered when she volunteered as a parent-coach. "I was just shocked," she said. The prayer dates back to the beginning of the League more than a half-century ago, and says, "I trust in God. I love my country, and will respect its laws. I will play fair and strive to win. But win or lose, I will always do my best." Another group Powell points to is the YMCA, which declares in its mission statement that it wants "to put Christian principles into action through programs that build a healthy spirit, mind and body for all." Culture Wars In Portland and Elsewhere To some, Nancy Powell's concerns about the Boy Scouts may seem misplaced. But she notes that promoting the Scouts, at least in the local schools, involved more than just giving kids flyers to bring home to their parents. On October 16, 1996, a non removable wrist bracelet was placed on son Remington's arm by a "Child Development Specialist" at Scott Elementary School, urging that all first grade boys join the local cub scout pack. Nancy still keeps the bracelet as evidence of the more aggressive proselytizing going on inside the schools. The Powell family's concerns over discriminatory, religious groups recruiting in schools, and with the assistance and encouragement of local authorities, underscores the growing cultural debate over the separation of church and state. Religious groups are curtailed by law from proselytizing on campuses during official hours; religious groups have organized September 17 as "Meet Me At The Flagpole Day," where they will urge students, teachers and others to congregate and pray. And legislation in Washington, D.C. would, if enacted, mean a greater role for religious exercise in public life and the nation's schools. The Religious Equality Amendment, for instance, would permit a wide range of "student initiated" prayer; critics fear that it would essentially eviscerate meaningful state-church separation in America and further erode the rights of atheists, other non-believers and even religious minorities. In the meantime, Nancy Powell is maintaining the pressure for an answer from school authorities to her charges of discrimination. "No mother should ever again be put in the position of telling her sobbing 6-year-old son on the steps of his own school that 'our kind,' non-believers in the supernatural, are not welcome," she says. And with school about to begin in Portland, the Powells are still awaiting their answer.
Scouts' school recruiting not a violation, ruling says A mother, who is atheist, says the Portland district was involved in religious activity by recruiting for the Boy Scouts By Maya Blackmun Portland Public Schools did not violate state law in allowing the Boy Scouts of America to recruit in an elementary school, the state schools superintendent's office has ruled. Nancy Powell, a Portland mother, had filed a complaint with the state superintendent saying that the school district was unlawfully involved in religious activities by recruiting students for the Boy Scouts. She argued that because the Scouts require a "declaration of religious principle" - stating a belief in God -- the group discriminated against atheists such as her family. "It's as if I'm attacking apple pie," she said. "But the slice of the pie poisoning atheists goes on and on." Greg McMurdo, deputy superintendent of public instruction, found that: Scouts are not primarily a religious organization; the recruiting literature sent home with Powell's son was not religious in nature; and school personnel were not inappropriately involved. Lew Frederick, a spokesman for the school district, said the ruling validated Portland school's practice of letting families know about community resources and then leaving it up to them to decide what to do. "What we're trying to do is to be reasonable with everyone who's here," he said.Powell said she would pursue the case and is considering her options, including whether she can appeal or file a civil suit. The policies of the Boy Scouts of America, which has about 52,000 members in Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington, have been under scrutiny lately. The California Supreme Court ruled Monday that as a private group, the Scouts can exclude gay people, agnostics and atheists without violating the state's civil rights law. Earlier this month, however, a New Jersey state appeals court found that the Scouts are a "public accommodation" and cannot exclude members based on their sexual orientation. Similar cases are pending in Chicago and the District of Columbia. Powell's complaint -- the first of its kind in Oregon -- differed in that it was not directed at the Boy Scouts but at the Portland School District. Powell, whose 7-year -old so and 6-year-old daughter attend Harvey Scott Elementary School, first objected in the fall of 1996 after her son brought home a flier and a wristband recruiting him for a local Cub Scout pack and she learned of the religious requirement. She filed the complaint with the state in August 1997 after almost a year of objecting to the school's principal, district officials and the school board. The state superintendent's office gets about four complaints a year alleging that schools are improperly advancing religious activities. These complaints are considered serious because schools found in violation could lose state financing, a big part of their revenues. Powell says she has no objection to a private group setting its rules, however objectionable she finds them to be. But she argues that the group shouldn't be allowed to recruit on school property because it discriminates against her atheist family by requiring its members to declare that "no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God." She also has objected to Little League and an after-school basketball program run by the YMCA because of those groups' religious creeds. McMurdo also concluded that religious involvement in the schools is not absolutely forbidden; otherwise schools would not be able to teach about significant religious figures such as the Pilgrims, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. And Mother Teresa. David Fidanque, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, disagreed with McMurdo's ruling. He said the recruitment efforts crossed the line because they went beyond passive efforts of handing out information at a parents' night gathering to a school employee helping attach recruiting information wristbands to the children themselves. The ACLU is reviewing how it can help Powell respond to the state's ruling. Bill Funk, a law professor who teaches constitutional law at Lewis & Clark College, said schools have a difficult task. "The government has to walk this fine line between endorsing religion and discriminating against it," he said. "It can do neither."
Court OKs Boy Scout recruiting in schools PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- An atheist mother lost her two-year legal battle to ban the Boy Scouts of America from recruiting in Portland schools. Multnomah County Circuit Judge Joseph F. Ceniceros ruled that the Boy Scouts have a right to be in public schools because they are not primarily a religious organization even though members are required to affirm a belief in God. The case is being watched nationally because it threatens the close ties between the Scouts and public schools. "I conclude that the religious aspect of scouting is a very small part of its programs," Ceniceros said in his ruling. "I also conclude that under any criteria or test that I am aware of the Boy Scouts are not a religious organization." The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the mother, Nancy Powell, plans to appeal. She contends that the Boy Scouts' recruiting in public schools violates the separation of church and state in the Oregon Constitution. "I do not relish having to tell him (her son) that when he goes back to school next week, he may at any time be exposed to an organization that condemns what he is," Powell said. "I don't want them (the Scouts) near my children, yet by law I must send my children to school. You tell me the fairness in this," she said. Oregon ACLU Executive Director David Fidanque said he was disappointed by the ruling. "The Portland district is allowing an organization that discriminates on the basis of religion to have special access to its school buildings," he said. The district's lawyers argued that the Boy Scouts' emphasis on youth leadership is a positive influence on students. In the district's view, the group's religious ties are largely incidental to its central purpose: scouting. The ruling means the district will continue opening its buildings to the Boy Scouts, said Bruce Samson, the district's general counsel. He said the right to decide whether to accommodate the Scouts was worth fighting for. Powell's son, Remington, also an atheist, is a student at Harvey Scott Elementary School. On two occasions, the boy was at school when Cub Scout recruiters made membership pitches. Recruiters put bracelets on boys and asked them to attend evening scout meetings, said Powell, who is now the school's PTA president. She sued the school district and the Oregon Department of Education in May 1998 to halt the recruiting in school buildings. She said that her son felt left out of the fun because the Scouts "won't have our kind." The ACLU argued that the Boy Scouts are a religious organization because membership is limited to boys who affirm a "duty to God," even if the group's primary purpose is not religious. "Most importantly, it is using a school to discriminate against students based on religion," Fidanque said. Fidanque said he hoped the school board would reconsider its decision to allow the Boy Scouts in the schools. Portland school board member Marc Abrams, a lawyer, said he's always seen the case as primarily a dispute between the Powells and the Boy Scouts, with the school district caught between. "We are interested in having the broadest possible opportunities for our students," Abrams said. The Boy Scouts routinely present their programs to students in school, in Oregon and across the nation. The Boy Scouts, seeing their long-standing traditions under fire, went so far as to help pay the Portland board's legal bills. Officials reported last month that the district spent $55,000 in tax money fighting the lawsuit. "We are obviously delighted," said Larry Otto, executive director of the Boy Scouts Cascade-Pacific Council. "We look forward to continuing to work with the public schools to help educate their children." Otto was reluctant to talk about the legal points in the case. But, he said, "We say that if a kid is going to participate in the scouting system, he must recognize his relationship to God. But we do not do anything of a religious nature in the schools. . . . We don't try to peddle religion." Since its founding 89 years ago, the Boy Scouts have required members to believe in God. The Girl Scouts do not have a similar requirement. There are 170,000 Scouts in Oregon and Washington and 4.8 million nationally. In a similar court case in Illinois, the Boy Scouts also prevailed, winning the right to be in public schools. While the Portland school board allows Scouts to recruit in schools, it bars armed forces recruiters from schools because of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy that the board says discriminates against gays and lesbians.
Brief statement by Judge - 8/31/99 At the hearing on the Motions for Summary Judgment, I said that I intended to inform you of my decision before the school year began. That day is in fact approaching. This letter constitutes my decision with a very brief discussion. Clearly the important issues in this case deserve a more detailed and scholarly discussion than will appear in this letter and I have no doubt that they will receive such discussion in due course. However, the parties deserve, if not a scholarly, at least a prompt decision so that they may take appropriate action. The issue in this case is clear. The Portland, public School District allows the BSA to enter school property during school hours to speak to young boys about scouting. Plaintiff contends that the BSA are a religious organization and that the district's practice violates Article 1, section 5 of the Oregon constitution, our States equivalent of the Establishment of Religion Clause. Plaintiff also contends that the Superintendent of Public Instruction erred when she ruled that the district's practice does not violate the State's establishment clause. All parties agree that there are no material facts in dispute. I conclude that the religious aspect of scouting is a very small part of its programs. I also conclude that under any criteria or test that I am aware of the Boy Scouts are not a religious organization for the purposes of the establishment clause of the Oregon Constitution. I am aware of cases throughout the country in which the BSA have earnestly contended that they are a religious organization. In all these cases it was claimed that the BSA were a place of public accommodation and subject to the various State Public Accommodation laws. However the law which applies to establishment cases is clearly different from that which applies to public accommodation cases and what is a religious organization under one set of laws in not under another. These cases are troubling but not persuasive. The most disturbing aspect of this case is the BSA's denial of membership to boys and scoutmasters who do not acknowledge the existence of GOD. This admitted fact was almost pivotal in my analysis. The religious organization can of course, exclude persons who do not subscribe to their beliefs. Organizations subject to the public accommodations laws are limited in whom they can exclude from employment. However, for purposes of the establishment clause, this denial of membership does not seem to matter. For the above reasons I find that the Superintendent of Public Instruction did not err when she ruled that the District's practice did not violate the establishment clause of the Oregon Constitution. - Multnomah County Circuit Judge Joseph F. Ceniceros
ACLU URGES PORTLAND SCHOOL BOARD TO RECONSIDER BOY SCOUT ACCESS SEPTEMBER 1, 1999 The American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday that the Portland School District should reconsider its practice of granting special access to the Boy Scouts to recruit students given a Multnomah County Circuit judge's factual finding that the Scouts discriminate on the basis of religion. Multnomah Co. Circuit Court Judge Joseph Ceniceros issued a ruling Tuesday that rejected the ACLU's legal arguments that the school district's actions violate the constitutionally required separation of church and state. The ACLU had filed the lawsuit on behalf of Nancy Powell and her son, Remington, who is a student at Harvey Scott Elementary School. The Powell's are atheists and objected to Boy Scout recruiting efforts during school hours because the Scouts deny membership to boys who refuse to swear allegiance to God. The dispute began in the fall of 1996 when Boy Scout recruiters went to Scott Elementary School and placed a wrist band on Remington Powell's arm which advertised a Cub Scout recruitment meeting at the school. Oregon ACLU Executive Director David Fidanque said even though he is disappointed by Judge Ceniceros' ruling, it had a silver lining for the ACLU and its clients. Fidanque noted that in his ruling, Judge Ceniceros said the "most disturbing aspect of this case is the Boy Scouts' denial of membership to boys and scoutmasters who do not acknowledge the existence of God." Fidanque said the judge's factual finding is important because school officials have denied any knowledge of the Boy Scouts' long-standing policy of denying membership to atheists. "For almost three years the Portland School District has danced around the facts in this case," Fidanque said. "The District has taken a 'Don't Ask, Don't Know' posture when it came to the issue of discrimination by the Scouts. "Now is it clear for all to see," Fidanque continued. "The stock-in-trade of the Boy Scouts is discrimination against those who don't believe in God. When Portland schools give special privileges to an organization that discriminates against some of its students based on religion, they are promoting that discrimination. We sincerely hope the School Board will reconsider its position and enforce District policies and state laws that prohibit this kind of discrimination." Nancy Powell joined the ACLU in asking the school district to take another look at the issue. She noted the school district's long-standing practice of denying access to the high schools by U.S. military recruiters because the Armed Forces discriminate against gays and lesbians. "From the beginning, all I've ever wanted was for the District to enforce its non-discrimination policies equally," Powell said. "It's a ridiculous distinction for the school district to protect 17 and 18 year-old students entering the job market and not to protect 6 and 7 year-olds who can't cross the street by themselves from religious discrimination by the Boy Scouts." Fidanque said the ACLU will appeal Judge Ceniceros' ruling on the church-state issue if the District does not change its practices, but he said the ACLU may also file a new legal challenge against the school district based on state anti -discrimination laws. "We could keep arguing with the District in court for years about some of the legal and constitutional issues in this case, and we will if we have to," Fidanque said. "But that shouldn't be necessary if the School Board would just take a fresh look at the facts and do what they know in their heart is the right thing." "The Boys Scouts may have a legal right to discriminate against atheists, agnostics, gays and others, but we remain convinced that as long as they continue that discrimination they have no right to receive special access to Portland elementary schools during the school day to recruit 6 and 7 year-old boys to join in that discrimination," Fidanque said.
STATEMENT BY DAVID J. FIDANQUE Judge Ceniceros' ruling had a silver lining for the ACLU and for our clients. Judge Ceniceros said in his opinion issued Tuesday that the "most disturbing aspect of this case is the Boy Scouts' denial of membership to boys and scoutmasters who do not acknowledge the existence of God." The judge's factual finding is important because up until now school officials have denied any knowledge of the Boy Scouts' long-standing policy of denying membership to atheists. For almost three years the Portland School District has danced around the facts in this case. The District has taken a 'Don't Ask, Don't Know' posture when it came to the issue of discrimination by the Scouts. Now is it clear for all to see. The stock-in-trade of the Boy Scouts is discrimination against those who don't believe in God. When Portland schools give special privileges to an organization that discriminates against some of its students based on religion, they are promoting that discrimination. We sincerely hope the School Board will reconsider its position and enforce District policies and state laws that prohibit this kind of discrimination. The ACLU will appeal Judge Ceniceros' ruling on the church-state issue if the District does not change its practices, but we may also file a new legal challenge against the school district based on state anti-discrimination laws. We could keep arguing with the District in court for years about some of the legal and constitutional issues in this case, and we will if we have to. But that shouldn't be necessary if the School Board would just take a fresh look at the facts and do what they know in their heart is the right thing. The Boys Scouts may have a legal right to discriminate against atheists, agnostics, gays and others, but we remain convinced that as long as they continue that discrimination they have no right to receive special access to Portland elementary schools during the school day to recruit 6 and 7 year-old boys to join in that discrimination.
Recruiting hearing draws crowd Tuesday, October 19, 1999 The Portland School Board got an earful Monday night on its proposed ban of all "non-school" groups from Portland Public Schools during class hours. The board came prepared to hear public comments but not ready to vote on the highly controversial matter. Board Chairman Ron Saxton told the crowd the board will decide the issue at a later meeting. Hoping to sway the board one way or another, speaker after speaker took to a single microphone to express concerns about the board's proposed policy. Some told the board it's a mistake to kick everyone out, while others said the board should not allow groups that discriminate, singling out the Boy Scouts of America and the U.S. armed forces. Still others defended the Boy Scouts for the good they do. At a school board meeting two weeks ago, school officials said they want to reverse their policy of allowing groups to come into classrooms and pitch their organizations and programs to a captive audience: students. At that meeting, the board recommended banning all non-school groups, except colleges, from recruiting during school hours. Under the proposed rule, outside youth groups would not be allowed even to pass out fliers in classrooms. Superintendent Ben Canada and school board members maintain that no ban will be put in place without community comment. Monday's hearing was the first step toward a decision on the proposal. Several speakers, some of them self-avowed atheists, said the board should not allow the Boy Scouts into the schools because the youth organization discriminates on the basis of religion, making all members profess belief in God. Others praised the good work the organizations, such as the Scouts, perform but condemned their discriminatory practices. "It is clear that the impetus to this proposal has been the controversy surrounding recruitment activities in the schools by the armed forces and the Boy Scouts," said Lowen Berman of Northeast Portland. "It appears to me that the proposal to restrict access to students by all outside groups flows from a lack of willingness on the part of board members to confront the real issue. That issue is public school cooperation with organizations that engage in invidious discrimination." Most speakers, however, expressed the importance of making youths aware of the programs available to them. "It's very important for us to reach all students," said Renee Anderson, outreach initiative director for Saturday Academy, which offers after-school math and science programs for youths. Anderson said that although her private programs occur after school, the primary means of reaching students is by going into the classrooms to tell the students about the programs. In August, the district won a legal battle to allow the Boy Scouts to use school buildings and to recruit students during school hours. The district successfully fought the objections of Nancy Powell, whose son, Remington, was asked to join the Scouts while a first-grader at Harvey Scott Elementary School in Northeast Portland. Powell is an atheist and says the Scouts discriminate against atheists with its religious requirement. The American Civil Liberties Union represented Powell in her lawsuit. The ACLU argued that such recruitment requirements violate the constitutional separation of church and state. But Multnomah County Circuit Judge Joseph Ceniceros ruled the Scouts are not primarily a religious organization and have a right to be in public schools. The ACLU planned to appeal, noting the judge's comments in his ruling that he was troubled by the Scouts' denying membership to boys who don't believe in God. Powell and others told the board Monday night that only groups that discriminate should be banned, not all the youth-oriented groups. The armed forces already are banned from recruiting by the Portland school district because of their rules barring homosexuals. "I don't think they should keep everybody out," said Jerry Billings, an atheist who said he was speaking as a grandfather of Portland Public Schools students. "But I do believe they should keep everybody out who discriminates."
Scouts can recruit in school |
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