Christian athletes and a Satanic club: Lawsuit claims San Jose Unified violated student rights

Did San Jose Unified School District violate students’ constitutional rights when it refused to recognize a Christian group while permitting a Satanic club to allegedly harass members of the other group?

That’s the question at the center of a legal battle that has been dragging on for more than two years between San Jose Unified and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes — an international nonprofit Christian organization that was founded in 1954.

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) and two former students, Elizabeth Sinclair and Charlotte Klarke, filed a lawsuit against San Jose Unified in April 2020 alleging that the district has denied FCA members equal protection to their peers, discriminated against them and violated their constitutional rights based on their religious beliefs.

The suit arises from a decision made by district officials in May 2019 to revoke official recognition of the FCA chapter at Pioneer High School, citing a violation of the district’s nondiscrimination policy.

In June of this year, San Jose Unified received an initial win when a federal judge rejected FCA’s motion for a preliminary injunction, determining that it was unlikely the organization would succeed in its pursuit of a verdict ruling in its favor. However, the FCA appealed the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which will hear arguments on the case on Tuesday.

According to the lawsuit, the district’s decision to remove the club’s official recognition came less than two weeks after Pioneer High teacher Peter Glasser posted a copy of the FCA’s Statement of Faith and Statement of Sexual Purity in his classroom.

Of particular concern was a line in the statements that read: “God instituted marriage between one man and one woman as the foundation of the family and the basic structure of human society. For this reason, we believe that marriage is exclusively the union of one man and one woman.”

In reading through the statements and the organization’s requirement for its leaders, district officials ruled that the group’s code violated its nondiscrimination policy, which prohibits district programs or activities from discriminating based on sexual orientation, among other characteristics.

The district continues to allow FCA members to meet but refuses to provide them with official recognition, meaning that the club is not included on school lists, yearbook photos or other district bookkeeping services. If the FCA club at Pioneer High School, as well as those at Willow Glen and Leland High, agree to abide by the nondiscrimination policy, the district has said the clubs could be officially reinstated.

“San José Unified has a diverse student body with a wide variety of interests and beliefs, and we welcome student clubs to use our facilities to assemble and meet freely,” San José Unified School District Superintendent Nancy Albarrán said in a statement on Monday. ” … San Jose Unified is unable to recognize any club that violates the nondiscrimination policy.”

Representatives with FCA could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

The lawsuit not only takes issue with the revoking of the group’s official recognition but also accuses district and school leaders of evincing “open hostility” toward FCA and failing to take any action to mitigate harassment endured by its members.

Pioneer High School began recognizing a group called the Satanic Temple Club at the start of the 2019-20 school year. The Satanic club gathered at the same time at Pioneer’s FCA chapter and soon began demonstrating outside of the FCA meetings, including yelling at FCA members as they entered their meetings and holding signs that read “hatred is not a religious belief,” the lawsuit states.