Shasta County: "Good News Clubs" thrive at 19 schools (Vista: home, elementary school)

[WesternPilgrim]

Shasta County's public schools are benefiting from a Christian-based after-school program run by volunteers. Faith is creative. I'd like to see a lot more of this kind of thing.

Redding Record-Searchlight: After school programs nurture biblical values

"Around 15 elementary schoolchildren sit at their desks Thursday afternoon in a Redding School of the Arts classroom learning their weekly Bible verse. But it's not a class, it's an after-school program. The students were learning biblical values about God's unconditional love. And at the 19 schools in Shasta County that host the programs, including Bella Vista School and others in the Redding and Gateway districts, students are encouraged to spread the message to their peers.

Known as Good News Clubs, the sessions are managed by the international Child Evangelism Fellowship, said Ron Schipper, chairman of the board for its Shasta County chapter.

He said the club teaches character values, such as being respectful to parents and teachers, and being truthful."

[Fontucky]

Hey pushy proselytizer, this is where it belongs: http://www.city-data.com/forum/christianity/

[.highnlite]

Would the moderator kindly get that religious crap out of the California forum? Thanks.

[mayorhaggar]

Sounds just like Iran! Just add in some guns and beards and they'll be ayatollahlicious.

[nullgeo]

Some folks just can't get enough penance in during a day ... after-school programs seem like an ideal solution to me ...

[Ceece]

Not a fan of faith based groups using kids to "spread the news" about whatever they are peddling. It's an open door to other groups doing the same and pretty soon someone fights and it's another big old mess that never should have occured.

I have no problem with Christian clubs or other faith based groups, and most schools already have those.

[Fontucky]

As an atheist, maybe I should start posting in the Calif forum every atheist-related subject with the most tenuous connection to California possible.

But I won't and don't, because I don't proselytize and I know there's already a forum here at C-D for that stuff.

[WesternPilgrim]

Originally Posted by Ceece

Not a fan of faith based groups using kids to "spread the news" about whatever they are peddling. It's an open door to other groups doing the same and pretty soon someone fights and it's another big old mess that never should have occured.

I have no problem with Christian clubs or other faith based groups, and most schools already have those.

As I understand it, non-religious organizations can do the same. I would imagine they have their squabbles too. What's the rationale for targeting faith-based groups for exclusion among all the others? Seems very arbitrary to me. SCOTUS agrees:

"A court case led to a 2001 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that religious clubs operated by outside organizations have the same access rights to create after-school programs as similar secular clubs, said Hiram Sasser, director of litigation for the Liberty Institute. 'The controlling case on this is Good News Club v. Milford Central School,' he said. '(The Clubs are) the ones who made the law.' The court ruled that the school couldn't give any religious club any more — or less — support than it would give a club sponsored by a secular program run by a nonschool agency, he said."

More importantly, Shasta County is conservative and home to a large evangelical population. These programs are consistent with the values of the community.

[18Montclair]

This is an after school program-I wonder what the Redding Record-Searchlight thought was so compelling about this story that they decided to run it? Cause to me its a non-story.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by WesternPilgrim

More importantly, Shasta County is conservative and home to a large evangelical population. These programs are consistent with the values of the community.

I can totally understand that...if its normal in Shasta County, then those of us who live hundreds of miles down the coast are probably have no justification to judge them anymore than they have to judge us.