School Bans “Jesus Club” for Not Being “Inclusive” yet Approves Secular Club – ACLJ Demands Action

The ACLJ is taking action to stop a blatant case of anti-Christian discrimination at a New York public high school that has spent nearly nine months blocking a student from forming a Christian club – while approving a secular club that applied at the exact same time.

We have sent a legal demand letter to the Plattsburgh City School District for violating the Equal Access Act and the First Amendment.

Kennedy Followed Her Faith, School Moved Goalposts

Kennedy Canales, a student at Plattsburgh Senior High School, did everything the school required to start a religious club. She secured a faculty advisor and student officers and submitted the required presentation explaining the club to the school. She followed all school policies.

But because the club was Christian and called “Jesus Club,” the school repeatedly stalled, ignored, and obstructed her efforts. The school has given her thin excuses after an intentional delay.

First, school officials told her she couldn’t use the name “Jesus Club” because it wasn’t “inclusive.” They insisted she adopt something generic like “Faith Club” so it wouldn’t be so Christian. They also told her the club couldn’t meet during the same period as other clubs, even though equal treatment between student clubs is federally required under the Equal Access Act. Meanwhile, a secular club presented its proposal to the school board on the same day and was approved within days.

Kennedy’s Christian club received no response at all. This is constructive denial: refusing to openly reject a religious club, yet effectively blocking it through endless delay.

While facing a stone wall from the administration, Kennedy has fought the onslaught of public hostility from students and teachers, including being questioned by a teacher in front of her classmates during class. She has also repeatedly been the victim of gossip and slander for standing up for what she believes in.

That’s when the ACLJ got involved. Take action with us as we defend Kennedy’s constitutional rights and add your name to our petition: Defeat the Left’s War Against Christians.

The Law Is Clear: Students Have First Amendment Rights, Regardless of School’s Comfort Level

Under the Equal Access Act, once a public school allows non-curriculum clubs, it must allow religious clubs on equal terms. The Supreme Court upheld this in Westside Community Schools v. Mergens, a case successfully argued by ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow. In that case, the Court made clear: “If a State refused to let religious groups use the facilities open to others, then it would demonstrate not neutrality but hostility toward religion.” Here, we can use “State” to include state actors, such as public schools. Schools may not censor religious identity or require a club to hide its viewpoint.

And because students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate,” a school cannot censor religious expression unless it causes a “substantial disruption,” not because a school district finds Christianity “not inclusive enough.”

In other words: A school can’t change the club’s name; can’t delay approval because it’s religious; can’t force it to meet at a different time; and can’t approve secular clubs and bury Christian ones. Yet that is exactly what happened.

We are demanding the school district fix this now, or we will go to court. If the district refuses, the ACLJ is prepared to file suit in federal court. As the Supreme Court has made clear, even one moment of violating constitutional rights is an irreparable injury. This is not a policy oversight; this is intentional religious discrimination. The district has attempted to strong-arm a student into making her club “less religious.”

We’re Fighting Back – But We Need You With Us

Kennedy is not the only student facing this kind of hostility. This is part of a national pattern: Schools are fast-tracking secular clubs while Christians are told to wait, change their name, water down their faith – or just give up.

We will not let that happen. We are prepared to litigate because public schools cannot silence Christian students.