MAYS LANDING, N.J. – Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter Monday to Atlantic Cape Community College informing the school that its policy of barring religious and political student groups from its funding program is unconstitutional. ADF sent the letter on behalf of the school’s Christian Club, which is currently blocked from receiving otherwise available funding from the Student Government Association.
According to school Policy 206, religious and political clubs “will not receive funds to run their clubs.” That means these clubs, like the Christian Club, are fully financially responsible for their operation. Last semester, school officials informed the Christian Club it could not receive funding because it is Christian. Yet the school provided funding to Atlantic Cape’s Pride Club, even though that group clearly promotes a political ideology.
“School officials cannot single out students of faith for unequal treatment,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matthew Ray. “Christian Club members at Atlantic Cape face a clear double standard. While the Pride Club receives school funding, the Christian Club is barred simply because it’s religious. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled numerous times that excluding religious observers from receiving public funds based solely on their religion violates the First Amendment. We are urging the school to change its policy to benefit students and uphold their constitutional rights.”
In its letter, ADF asks Atlantic Cape Community College to strike its policy immediately and restore funding to the Christian Club. “It should be clear by now that laws that facially target religious groups for disfavored treatment are always unconstitutional,” the letter states. “The Christian Club’s members ‘are members of the community too,’ and their exclusion from receiving SGA funding is ‘odious to our Constitution and cannot stand.’”
The ADF Center for Academic Freedom is dedicated to protecting First Amendment and related freedoms for students and faculty so that everyone can freely participate in the marketplace of ideas without fear of government censorship.
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