SKOWHEGAN, Maine — Some parents in Skowhegan are upset over a Christian after-school club being allowed to meet in the town’s elementary schools. Citing Thomas Jefferson’s stated “separation of church and state,” those parents think religious beliefs should not be taught in a school setting.
The Good News Club is a Christian club that, according to its pamphlet, teaches children lessons from the Bible, including “respect for authority, moral values and character qualities.” Part of the Child Evangelism Fellowship of Maine, the club has nine chapters in the state, including one in Skowhegan.
The club meets after school, once a week, in elementary schools, just as other organizations do.
Skowhegan Superintendent Brent Colbry said, “Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, rec programs, all those things — if we allow them to be in the schools, then we can’t say no to somebody else.”
Colbry said SAD 54, the school district which includes Skowhegan, does not sponsor any of these clubs.
“We have nothing to do with it,” he said. But he acknowledged grade schools do pass out club literature to students.
“We don’t promote them,” Colbry said. “We simply pass them out.”
But Maine Atheists and Humanists member Anna Marin argued that “parents don’t necessarily understand that it’s not school sponsored.”
She opposes the Good News Club being allowed to teach their beliefs in a school setting.
“If you allow any groups in like this, you have to allow Muslims, Satanists,” Marin said.
Marin told CBS 13 parents “would be shocked and just horrified if Satanists were sending home a similar type thing.”
Said Colbry: “If it was that kind of a thing, we’d ask our attorneys to review it.”
John Romano, the Maine director of Child Evangelism Fellowship, says its literature is nothing more than an invitation.
Romano told CBS 13, “There’s no coercion. There’s no manipulation. We’re just letting children and their parents know about our Good News Club to see if they’d like to join.”
And Colbry added, “If you’re going to allow groups to use the school, you can’t discriminate against any particular group.”
“It’s [a case of] either you do none, or you allow those groups in,” Colbry said.
He said every year a parent or two complains about the Good News Club. But he said at this point, he plans to keep things the way they are; allowing all clubs inside his school and allowing schools to pass out their pamphlets.