Washington — The Supreme Court took up the question Wednesday of whether an evangelical Christian group has a constitutional right to meet for prayer and Bible study in a public elementary school at the end of the day.
The answer appeared to be "yes," as most of the justices sided with the Christian group and against school officials during the oral argument.
If so, the ruling, due later in the spring, could give an important boost to President Bush's "faith-based" initiative.
The president's plan calls for putting more public dollars into church-based programs and bringing more church-based programs into public institutions, such as prisons, hospitals and schools.
In the past, the Supreme Court has said that such a mixing of church and state violates the First Amendment's ban on laws "respecting an establishment of religion."
"This is a free speech case. We're not asking for special access, just equal access," said Thomas Marcelle, a lawyer for the Good News Club, an evangelical Christian group with 4,622 chapters nationwide.
In Milford, N.Y., the Rev. Stephen Fournier and his wife, Darlene, want to meet with children for singing and prayers at school as soon as classes end. Since groups such as the Girl Scouts and the 4-H Club are permitted to meet there, the Good News has a right to do the same, they argue.
But school officials refused. They said the school facilities are not open to commercial activities, partisan political gatherings or "for religious purposes."
Frank Miller, the school board's lawyer, said that "religious worship" was not an appropriate activity in a public school building, even after classes had ended.
"You would be permitting a school to be used as a house of worship. We don't think that's consistent with the mission of the school system," he said.
Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy sharply criticized the school's lawyers for what they referred to as "censorship" of religion.
Even Justice Stephen Breyer, a member of the court's liberal minority, wondered whether the school's exclusion of religious groups was legal. "Why isn't it discrimination against religion in violation of the First Amendment?" he asked.
Only Justice David Souter skeptically questioned the lawyer for the Christian group. "This is like Sunday school, isn't it?" he asked.
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