District bars gospel choir
from 9-11 event

A school district barred a high school gospel choir from singing at a 9-11 memorial service because the event was held at a church.

Allowing the public school students to sing Monday night at Central Baptist Church in Sanford, Fla., or any religious service, would have violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, according to the Seminole County School District.

“It doesn’t make logical sense that they would have a gospel choir, but the gospel choir couldn’t sing at a church,” said Mathew Staver, featured speaker at the 9-11 service and an attorney whose nonprofit legal defense group plans to file a lawsuit against the district.

The event, attended by elected officials and judges, was a patriotic service to remember those who died on Sept. 11, said Staver, who noted that his address focused on the Declaration of Independence and the liberty that flowed from it.

Members of the Seminole High School choir were upset by the district’s decision, made the day of the service, according to Staver. The group is highly recognized, with numerous awards, and has performed at places such as Walt Disney World. Though it didn’t appear at Central Baptist, the choir was listed on the printed program for the Monday event.

The district does not want to make the matter a constitutional issue, however, Seminole County School District attorney Ned Julian told WorldNetDaily.

“The bottom line is it’s a curricular decision, and the [district] staff and principals have a right to make decisions as to what will and will not be taught in classes and what activities students in classes of a public school system will and will not engage in,” he said.

Julian referred, nevertheless, to a June 8, 2001, legal opinion on the “constitutional parameters of gospel choirs” drafted by a Washington, D.C., firm, Hogan and Hartson, at the request of Seminole County School District Superintendent Paul Hagerty.

The memorandum, citing cases such as the 1971 Supreme Court decision, Lemon v. Kurtzman, said a state-created entity such as a school district may not engage in activity that has the primary effect of advancing religion. The memo advised that “a public school gospel choir should not perform at churches.”

“So when this issue came to the superintendent’s attention Monday morning,” Julian explained, “he made a decision that it was not appropriate for the gospel choir, which continues to function as a class, to perform at what was a religious service, regardless of the reason for the service. It was a 9-11 memorial service – but nonetheless it’s a religious activity.”

Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel in Orlando, insists, however, that the district’s stance has no basis in law.

“There is no constitutional reasoning that would say a choir can sing anywhere but not at a church,” he told WND.

Staver says the school is engaging in “viewpoint discrimination,” citing the 2001 Supreme Court case of Good News Club v. Milford Central School. The court ruled that if a public school allows a group such as a chess club to meet for its extra-curricular programs, it also must allow religious groups.

“If you can have a religious event on a public school campus, you can certainly have a religious event off a public school campus,” Staver said.

Julian argued that the gospel choir is part of the school’s curriculum, not an extra-curricular program.

In response, Staver acknowledged that the school has control over the curriculum but pointed out that this particular event took place after school hours.

“When students asked if they could go by themselves and sing, without representing the school, they were told, no, that would be a way of subverting the school,” Stover said.

The memorandum cited by the school district also explored whether or not a public school’s creation and support of a gospel choir might in itself be a violation of the Establishment Clause, which says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

The Washington law firm said, “We think the heritage of black gospel music is worthy of study and performance apart from its religious message.”

The 2001 memo noted that the Seminole High School gospel choir had performed at four to eight churches annually in the previous two years.

In a fax to Julian on Monday, Staver implored the attorney to intervene in the situation, insisting that “not only may the choir constitutionally appear at this evening’s function, but banning them not only violates the rights of these students who will be prohibited from singing, but discriminates against the church which is hosting a patriotic remembrance of Sept. 11.”

He suggested the district could resolve the matter by allowing any student in the choir the option of not participating.

Staver said Julian responded by faxing him the memo from Hogan and Hartson.

Liberty Counsel will file a federal lawsuit if the district does not reverse its policy barring the choir from churches, said Staver.

“If we’re not able to get any satisfaction by the end of the week, we will send out another letter giving a specific time frame in which they will need to respond,” he said.