A group of high school students in Louisiana who were sent to a conservative Christian event that was inaccurately described as a college fair will have their day in court.
A federal court refused to dismiss many of the claims brought in the case in an Oct. 3 ruling, reported the “Religion Clause” blog.
The case, Roe v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, began two years ago after seniors at parish schools were offered a field trip to what was called a “College & Career Fair.”
As Hemant Mehta of the “Friendly Atheist” blog put it, “They were actually transported to a massive church service called ‘Day of Hope.’”
During the event, which took place at Living Faith Christian Center, the students were separated by gender. The girls were given messages about sexuality that parroted fundamentalist Christian beliefs, while the boys were offered a talk and events that participants said were drenched in male chauvinism.
Other attendees said that the event, which included an altar call, was transphobic and that participants were encouraged to harass LGBTQ+ students.
Several students and their parents were offended by the event. School officials, however, insisted it was not inappropriate. They issued a statement calling it “an elevation of a traditional college and career fair” and asserting that it was merely a mentoring program with a local nonprofit.
But as Mehta pointed out, the nonprofit is called 29:11 Mentoring Families and it states up front that its goal is to “redirect our students to Jesus Christ who defines their future and to change the world.” (School officials paid 29:11 Mentoring nearly $10,000 to host the event.)
Unable to get satisfaction from Sito Narcisse, then the superintendent of schools, the parents sued. Their lawsuit described the event as a “harmful and traumatizing church service” and asserted that the school district and the church “engaged in a conspiracy to expose public school children to overtly sectarian and religious experiences.”
The lawsuit seeks compensation for the “mental anguish” the students experienced and demands that the school stop sending students to “Day of Hope” events.
School officials sought to have the case dismissed, but U.S. District Judge Shelly D. Dick ruled that the bulk of it could go forward.
“The Supreme Court has ‘long recognized the rights of parents to direct the religious upbringing’ of their children,’” Dick wrote. “By approving the events that allegedly took place at the Day of Hope, the alleged conduct of Narcisse and the Past Board Members was objectively unreasonable.”