Sweet Onion Christian Learning Center v. Vidalia City Schools

Description:  A Georgia school district punished Gady Youmans, the executive director of a Christian released-time education program, for exercising his First Amendment right on Facebook and engaging in religious instruction. For more than a decade, Sweet Onion Christian Learning Center provided optional, free, off-campus religious instruction to students at Vidalia High School. This released-time program continued without problems until Youmans criticized a proposed tax increase on his Facebook page. Soon after, school officials canceled the released-time program, harming the ministry and leaving Vidalia students without any free religious education option. When Youmans asked why, the superintendent of Vidalia City Schools said she and the Vidalia City Board of Education canceled the program because of Youmans’ Facebook posts criticizing the tax increase, thus violating his First Amendment right to free speech.

VIDALIA, Ga. – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Friday against school officials in Georgia after they punished the director of a Christian released-time education program for exercising his First Amendment right on Facebook and engaging in religious instruction.

For more than a decade, Sweet Onion Christian Learning Center provided optional, free, off-campus religious instruction to students at Vidalia High School. This released-time program continued without problems until the ministry’s executive director, Rev. Gady Youmans, criticized a proposed tax increase on his Facebook page.

Soon after, school officials canceled the released-time program, harming the ministry and leaving Vidalia students without any free religious education option. When Youmans asked why, the superintendent of Vidalia City Schools said she and the Vidalia City Board of Education canceled the program because of Youmans’ Facebook posts criticizing the tax increase, thus violating his First Amendment right to free speech.

“Every American has the right to publicly criticize the government—that’s what makes the First Amendment guarantee of free speech so special and the envy of the world,” said ADF Legal Counsel Mercer Martin. “Vidalia city schools can’t punish Rev. Youmans—or his ministry providing high school students with free religious education—for simply sharing his opinion of a proposed tax hike. We are urging the court to reinstate Sweet Onion’s released-time program and restore Rev. Youmans’ constitutional freedoms.”

After learning about Youmans’ Facebook posts, the superintendent secretly investigated Sweet Onion and learned that, six years ago, a parent from another school had removed her child from a Sweet Onion course after learning the ministry did not exclusively employ the parent’s preferred Bible interpretation. Based on this incident, the superintendent reported to the board that, in addition to her disagreement with the content of Youmans’ Facebook posts, his instruction “reflected a particular interpretation of the Bible” that wasn’t presented in a “neutral or well-balanced manner.” By targeting his religious instruction, the district violated Youmans’ right to the free exercise of religion.

ADF attorneys explain that the First Amendment protects Youmans’ right both to criticize the proposed tax increase and to teach the Bible from his religious perspective. By punishing him and his ministry for his criticism of the government and his religious instruction, school officials violated that fundamental right.

ADF attorneys filed the lawsuit, Sweet Onion Christian Learning Center v. Vidalia City Schools, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, Statesboro Division.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

# # #