A federal judge in the District of Columbia (D.C.) has ruled that the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) may return to a high school in D.C. and continue advocating for its religious beliefs.
Founded in 1954, FCA is a religious ministry that “supports student-athletes committed to living out their Christian faith on and off the playing field.” Specifically, FCA helps form “huddles” on college, high school, and middle school campuses, where student-athletes “come together for prayer, testimonies, and Bible study.”
The impetus for the litigation occurred in 2022 when an FCA huddle returned to the campus of Jackson-Reed High School in D.C. after a brief pause during the pandemic. Two weeks later, however, a part-time freshman baseball coach told local FCA staff that because of FCA’s beliefs, there was “no place for a group like FCA in a public school.” He filed a complaint with D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) accusing Jackson-Reed of violating the District of Columbia Human Rights Act by allowing FCA on campus.
Because of the coach’s complaint, DCPS immediately stripped the Jackson-Reed FCA huddle of official recognition, stopped it from meeting, removed it from the list of student clubs, deleted its club website, and launched a formal investigation into FCA. During the investigation, FCA representatives “explained to DCPS that any student is welcome to participate in FCA huddles; all FCA asks is that its student leaders—those who lead prayer, Bible study, and religious teaching—agree with its religious beliefs. Despite these facts, DCPS kicked FCA off campus at Jackson-Reed, and offered to let Jackson-Reed back on campus only if it assured that anyone could lead FCA, ‘regardless of … religious affiliation, or personal belief.’”
FCA seeks equal access to public school campuses
After losing official recognition, FCA unsuccessfully appealed the decision, with the argument that DCPS “could not exclude FCA from campus because it asks its leaders to agree to its beliefs. In fact, Jackson-Reed already recognizes many student groups formed around particular beliefs and characteristics—including the Asian Student Union, which is ‘for students of Asian heritage,’ and the Wise Club, which offers a ‘separate space for young women.’ DCPS itself even runs entire schools that condition admission on race and sex. So for DCPS to start selectively targeting FCA over its religious leadership requirements clearly violates the law,” according to the FCA, which was represented by Becket, a law firm that specializes in religious freedom.
FCA filed a federal lawsuit against DCPS on May 7, 2024. The complaint points to a similar Becket case involving FCA, Fellowship of Christian Athletes v. San Jose Unified School District, in which an FCA club won its right to return to campus after “being harassed and kicked out of public schools in San Jose, CA, for its leadership requirements.” The “en banc” Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2023 that San Jose unlawfully penalized FCA for its religious beliefs and used a double standard that failed to treat FCA like all other student groups. In spring 2024, FCA asked the court for the same equal access to public school campuses in D.C. On July 11, 2024, the court ruled that FCA can return to Jackson-Reed High School’s campus and that it can ask its leaders to embrace its core religious beliefs.
In its ruling, the court wrote that “antidiscrimination laws ‘have done much to secure the civil rights of all Americans.’ 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, 143 S. Ct. 2298, 2307 (2023). But antidiscrimination laws, like all other laws, must be applied evenhandedly and not in violation of the Constitution. See id.
“Unfortunately, it appears that this command was not followed at Jackson-Reed High School.
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes requires its student leaders, but not its members, to
affirm their commitment to the group’s beliefs. Among those beliefs is a prohibition on sexual
relations outside of marriage between a man and a woman. For this, FCA lost its official status at
Jackson-Reed. As a condition for reinstatement, the District forced FCA to choose between
official school recognition and its religious principles. Such treatment is at odds with that received by secular groups at Jackson-Reed that appear to limit membership on the basis of other protected characteristics and/or ideological alignment.
“At this stage, FCA has shown that the District’s application of its Anti-Discrimination Policy is likely to run afoul of, at the very least, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Free Exercise Clause. The Court will, however, narrow the scope of the requested injunction. The
Court thus grants in part and denies in part FCA’s Application for Preliminary Injunction.”
The opinion can be viewed at: https://becketnewsite.s3.amazonaws.com/20240711213931/2024-07-11-_-FCA-DC-Opinion.pdf
