11-year-old denied permission to start interfaith prayer club at Washington state school

An 11-year-old girl in Washington State was prohibited from forming an interfaith prayer group at her elementary school one week after the same administrators permitted other students to start an LGBTQ “Pride Club.”

Laura, a 5th grader at Creekside Elementary in Sammamish, Washington, and a friend wanted to start a prayer group to “bring students together to serve their community” from different faith backgrounds.

Laura and her mother met with Creekside Principal Amy Allison in February about the club but were told that funding for clubs was allocated in October.
 
Yet the pride club was started and promoted by teachers a week before the school met with Laura and her mother.

A nonprofit Christian legal organization, First Liberty Institute (FLI), took on the case for Laura, her friend, and their parents, and wrote a letter to the Issaquah School District regarding the incident.

FLI alleged in the letter that the school’s actions were unlawful and violated both the Free Exercise Clause and the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.
 
According to FLI, "Principal Allison's suggestion that L.A.W. [Laura] could apply and pay to use the school's facilities as if she were an outside organization is an unlawful sidestep of the law's requirements. As the Supreme Court has repeatedly held, religious clubs must be afforded the same recognition, access, and rights as other non-curricular clubs."  
 
The district and the school were given a deadline of April 22 to approve the prayer club or the group will take legal action.

"Denying the formation of a religious student club while allowing other clubs violates the Constitution," said Kayla Toney, associate counsel at First Liberty Institute. "School officials at Creekside Elementary are engaged in religious discrimination against an eleven-year-old girl who simply wants to pray, feel support from other religious friends, and do community service. In Coach Kennedy's case just a short drive away in Bremerton, the Supreme Court held that students and staff can pray at school—and to prohibit them violates the First Amendment."

A spokesperson for Issaquah School District told CBN News, "As you may already know, clubs offered are student-interest driven and meet outside of the school day. At the elementary level, participation in a club also requires parent permission. Once the school year begins, the building budget is set, and additional clubs are usually not added until the following school year."  

Kayla Toney, Associate Counsel at First Liberty Institute, told Fox News, "Denying the formation of a religious student club while allowing other clubs violates the Constitution. School officials at Creekside Elementary are engaged in religious discrimination against an eleven-year-old girl who simply wants to pray, feel support from other religious friends, and do community service."

The school is close to Bremerton High School where Coach Joe Kennedy was fired for praying on the football field after games. 

Kennedy was reinstated after the US Supreme Court ruled in his favor, citing that the First Amendment protects students and employees who express faith in public schools. 

FLI wrote in the letter that SCOTUS explained in the ruling that “the First Amendment ‘doubly protects religious speech.’ These First Amendment protections extend to elementary school students expressing their sincere religious beliefs through voluntary clubs. Yet the school district flouted its First Amendment obligations when they refused to allow a student-led interfaith prayer club. Its unlawful action violates both the Free Exercise Clause and the Free Speech Clause."