The Freedom From Religion Foundation is fighting back against a California school board that is improperly seeking to resurrect a closed civil rights case.

The Board of Education of the Chino Valley Unified School District is attempting to end a court injunction that prohibits board members from opening their public meetings with prayer. FFRF, a national state/church watchdog, secured decisive court decisions against unconstitutional religious practices by the Chino Valley School Board, winning before a federal district court in 2016 and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2018. FFRF will fight the board’s motion in court.

“Rather than focus on educating students, it is unfortunate that the Chino Valley Board remains intent on pushing evangelical Christianity on district students and residents,” comments FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. “The move to reopen this case is going to cost taxpayers again when the district loses yet again.”

In a closed session vote on Feb. 20, the board authorized Advocates for Faith and Freedom to try to reopen FFRF’s landmark lawsuit. This move is an attempt to overturn FFRF’s appeals court victory and well-established legal precedent against government-sponsored religious ritual at school board meetings.

The board filed a motion to reopen the case on July 31, arguing that the injunction issued in 2016 by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California should be lifted. The board incorrectly claims the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District means that the legal basis for the district court order no longer exists.

FFRF filed suit in 2014 on behalf of 22 local students, parents and employees unhappy to be subjected to the board’s routine lengthy practice of opening meetings with sectarian prayer, bible reading and proselytizing. In 2016, a U.S. district court ruled in FFRF’s favor, a decision unanimously upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2018, affirming that the board’s actions violated the First Amendment. As a result, the school district was ordered to pay more than $275,000 in FFRF’s legal fees.

The court ruling unequivocally condemned the board’s blatant promotion of Christianity. Then-Board President James Na routinely injected religion into official statements, once urging attendees who “do not know Jesus Christ to go and find Him,” after which another board member closed the meeting by reading Psalm 143. The appeals court noted that these prayers “typically take place before groups of schoolchildren whose attendance is not truly voluntary and whose relationship to school district officials, including the board, is not one of full parity.” The court further emphasized that the board’s practice was discriminatory toward secular residents.

Despite this clear ruling, current Board President Sonja Shaw mischaracterized FFRF’s legal challenge as “intimidation tactics” and an “example of overreach.” She claimed that holding the board accountable was a matter of “activist groups bully[ing] [them] into silence.”

Barker responds: “No child or parent should feel pressured to participate in religious activities at school board meetings. That conduct is bullying and inappropriate.” He adds, “The Chino Valley Board’s decision to revisit this case is an alarming attempt to revive unconstitutional practices that remain firmly prohibited by precedent relating to prayer at school events.”
 
The board’s move seems designed to promote Christian nationalism, which is the false notion that the United States is a Christian nation giving privileges to certain believers. Such Christian prayer excludes the 33 percent of Californians who are atheist, agnostic or do not identify with a particular religion and the additional 9 percent who identify with non-Christian religions.

The board’s latest move is a troubling effort to defy longstanding constitutional protections and reintroduce religious coercion into public meetings. FFRF remains steadfast and committed to ensuring that Chino Valley residents, regardless of belief or nonbelief, are free from school board-imposed religious ritual and proselytizing. The state/church watchdog will file a forthcoming response to the board’s motion and seek to keep the injunction in place. 

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 42,000 members and several chapters nationwide, including more than 5,400 members and two chapters in California. FFRF’s purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

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