[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-439650-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":72,"doc-detail-439650-en":122},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":65,"head_meta":67,"extra_data":69,"updated_unix":71},105,"en","current-events-high-sch00l-bible-clubs-supreme-court-to-decide-if-they-violate-the-constitution","CURRENT EVENTS - HIGH SCH00L BIBLE CLUBS - Supreme Court To Decide if They Violate the Constitution","","High school students at Westside High seek to form a Christian Bible Club and are denied by principal James Findley, who cites the U.S. Constitution’s separation of church and state under the First Amendment. Bridget Mergens-Mayhew and her friends argue the school is unfairly blocking their religious group while allowing many other clubs. They sue under the 1984 Equal Access Act, and the dispute escalates to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the justices will hear arguments on the constitutional issues.",{"@graph":14,"@context":64},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/","Exam",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/current-events-high-sch00l-bible-clubs-supreme-court-to-decide-if-they-violate-the-constitution/439650/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/current-events-high-sch00l-bible-clubs-supreme-court-to-decide-if-they-violate-the-constitution/439650.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"hdkawk","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-15","2026-09-29",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":33},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"How did the case reach the U.S. Supreme Court?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"After lower-court rulings upheld the Equal Access Act and addressed the First Amendment issue, the school appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed to hear arguments on both sides.","Answer","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":66,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":68,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":70,"site_id":7},439650,1790903518,{"code":4,"msg":73,"data":74},"success",[75,79,83,86,91,96,101,106,111,114,118],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":76,"show_sort_weight":77,"slug":78},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":80,"show_sort_weight":81,"slug":82},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":84,"slug":85},70,"exam",{"id":87,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":88,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":92,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":109,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":113},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":115,"slug":117},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":87,"slug":121},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":73,"data":123},{"doc_id":70,"user_id":124,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":125,"doc_module":4,"category_id":33,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":126,"file_id":127,"file_url":128,"file_type":129,"file_size":130,"view_count":33,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":107,"language":131,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":132,"faqs":133,"seo_title":134,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":135,"read_time":136},3985747859855,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","What could be wrongwith a group of high schoolstudents having a BibleClub meeting at theirschool?  \nNothing,thought BridgetMergens-Mayhew five yearsago as she made her way tothe principal's office at0maha,Nebraska's West-side High.Little did sheknow that her visit withprincipal James Findleywould end up last week be-fore the U.S.SupremeCourt.  \nBridget wanted to seeFindley because she andsome other students atWestside wanted to form aChristian Bible Club that  \nAmenco's Fist school Newspoper Est 1902 Vol.89155e 16 Week of Jn ony 26.1990  \n# CURRENT EVENTS\n\nHIGH SCH00L BIBLE CLUBS  \n## Supreme Court To Decide if They Violate the Constitution\n\nwould meet at the school af-ter classes were over.  \nAs Bridget remembers,there was little doubt in hermind at the time that Fin-dley would approve her request.After all,there weresome 30 student clubs al-ready at the school representinga wide range of stu-dent interests from scubadiving to chess.  \n\"I thought he would sayyes,\"Bridget recalls today.  \nChurch and State  \nFindley,to Bridget's sur-prise,said no.He toldBridget he could not allowa Christian Bible Club tomeet at Westside High.  \n\"Why not?\"askedBridget.  \nFindley said that he andthe school administrationfelt that such a club wouldviolate the separation ofchurch and state—an impor-tant principle in the U.S.Constitution.Separation ofchurch and state derivesfrom the Constitution'sFirst Amendment,whichstates,in part:“Congressshall make no law respect-ing an establishment of religion..”  \nOver the years,the U.S.Supreme Court,which in-terprets the Constitution,has interpreted this state-ment to mean that no insti-  \n=AP/Wide World  \nHigh's proposed BibleClub(1).BnidgetMorgons-Mayhow,above,sued he gchool        \ntution supported by publicmoney,such as a publichigh school,can support aparticular religion over an-other.In 1963,the Su-preme Court barred teach-er-led prayer in publicschools because the Courtsaid it violated the separa-tion of church and stateSimilarly,Findley felt thatfor Westside to allow a Bi-ble Club to meet at theschool would indicate thatthe school gave its approvalto a particular religion-and thus would violate theFirst Amendment.  \nBridget Sues  \nBridget and her friends(continued on page 2)  \nSaw things differently.Theyfelt it was unfair of theschool not to allow them tohave their club while it al-lowed all sorts of other stu-dent clubs.  \n\"It terrifies me,\"saysBridget today,\"that theschool won'tlet kids of sim-iar beliefs get together totalk and pray,although itallows students to get to-gether for all kinds of othercubs.It's censorship.\"  \nInstead of just complain-ing,however,Bridget andher friends took action.They went to court.  \nThey sued the school dis-trict under the 1984 EqualAccess Act.This law for-bids public high schoolsfrom barring student relig-ious groups from meeting atthe school if the sameschools permit other clubsto meet that aren't directly  \nRoger Williams:PioneerFor Religious Freedom  \nIn July 1635,Roger Williams wascalled before the Generdl Court ofMassachusefs.The religious lead-ers of the colony were worried aboutthe young minister's views.  \nWilliams thought Massachusesreligious leaders should separalethemselves from the Church of Eng-land,rather than just try to purifychurch customs.Even worse,he saidthe Massachusetts governmentshould stop making people obey re-ligious rules.He believed no gov-ernment understood religion wellenough fo make laws about it  \nAffer several months of pressure,  \n2  \nCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1  \nrelated to the school's ed-ucational mission..  \nLawyers Argue  \nLawyers for Bridget ar-gued not only that theschool violated the 1984Equal Access Act,but thatit also violated the civilrights of the students to ex-press their religious views.  \n\"I see this as a case nodifferent from civil rightscases in the 1960s,\"saidDorglas Veith,a lawyer forthe students.\"In thosecases,blacks were discrim-inated against on the basisof color.These students arebeing discriminated againstbecause ","cbCaibomZgeprb8e","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaibomZgeprb8e","pdf",2711294,"English","# Supreme Court To Decide if They Violate the Constitution\n## Church and State\n## Bridget Sues\n## Lawyers Argue\n## The Supreme Court","[{\"question\":\"How did the case reach the U.S. Supreme Court?\",\"answer\":\"After lower-court rulings upheld the Equal Access Act and addressed the First Amendment issue, the school appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed to hear arguments on both sides.\"}]","CURRENT EVENTS - HIGH SCH00L BIBLE CLUBS - Supreme Court To Decide if They Violate the Constitution | PDF",1790689690,23]