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Officials with Tacoma Public Schools have agreed to allow a Christian after-school club equal access to its facilities.For years, Child Evangelism Fellowship has sponsored Good News Clubs at two schools in the Tacoma School District. However, at the beginning of this school year district officials informed the Christian club that they would have to pay a weekly fee to use the facilities because their meetings were religious in nature.Upon being contacted about the matter, Liberty Counsel sent a letter to school officials, explaining the constitutional rights of the Christian club. Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, now says school district officials have reversed their decision."That clearly is an equal access issue, not only in the use of the facilities but also in the kinds of fees and the waiver of fees that are allowed to be charged," says the attorney.Staver explains that the law in equal access is clear and unequivocal."Equal access means equal treatment. Equality in access means that religious viewpoints receive equal treatment compared to secular viewpoints," he shares."Equal access demands not only equality in the use of the public facilities in terms of the space and time and location, but also in terms of the charges or the waiver of charges," Staver continues. "Equal access is really a simple concept that public administrators ought to learn very quickly because it's been the law of our land for a number of years."Good News Club meetings are held after school on elementary campuses and feature teachings on moral values, character qualities, and respect for authority, all from a biblical perspective.As in the days of Noah....
