On The Front Lines
In Defense of Christian Motivational Speaker's Right to Free Exercise of Religion, Rutherford Institute Attorneys File Amended Complaint
Montana School Board Withdraws Invitation to Address Students, Citing Speaker'sChristian Faith, Association with Dawson McAllister Christian Ministry
BILLINGS, Mont.--Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court on behalf of Jaroy Carpenter, a motivational speaker whose invitation to address an assembly of middle school students in Dillon, Mont., on secular topics was rescinded by school board members because he is a Christian and affiliated with an evangelical Christian ministry. Institute attorneys argue in their complaint that the school's fears about violating the so-called separation of church and state are unsubstantiated and due to a distrust of religious persons and a misinterpretation of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. The suit asks the court for a declaratory judgment that the school violated Carpenter's constitutional rights. To reinforce their claim that this lawsuit is about principle and not personal gain, Institute attorneys have also asked the court to grant Carpenter a compensatory damage award in the amount of one dollar.
As part of an effort to help students cope with a string of teen suicides and automobile deaths, concerned Dillon residents approached the Dawson McAllister Association for advice on how to reach out to local youth. McAllister, a nationally recognized youth speaker who hosts a Christian radio program and conducts Christian youth rallies across the country, suggested that local middle schools and high schools stage a three-day, city-wide youth rally, as well as non-religious school assemblies focusing on respect for self and others, responsibility and making the right choices. DMA recommended that motivational speaker Jaroy Carpenter, a former public school teacher who presents non-religious speeches in public schools across the country, be invited to address the students.
Carpenter gives secular presentations at high schools and middle schools, as well as religious presentations at Christian youth rallies, retreats and campus ministry functions. After reviewing the proposal for a secular in-school assembly, the school board of School District #10 invited Carpenter to present a strictly secular speech to students at Dillon Middle School on Oct. 9, 2002. However, after one school board member and a county attorney voiced concern that Carpenter's Christian faith and affiliation with DMA might put the school at risk of violating the so-called separation of church and state, the school board rescinded its invitation. Even though Carpenter has made more than 200 secular presentations at school assemblies around the country and has never addressed religion or sought to proselytize those in attendance, school board members stated that they could not risk the possibility that Carpenter would address religious matters during his speech and subject the district to a lawsuit. Many other area schools that had agreed to hold these assemblies rescinded their offers as well.
"Religious persons, like all others, have the right not to be discriminated against because of their beliefs or affiliations," stated John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "School officials charged with educating our young people about our nation's history and Constitution should be among the first to jealously guard the rights embodied in the Constitution."
The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.
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