Elijah Nelson was told by administrators that allowing a Bible club would constitute an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
A New York school that initially rejected an eighth-grade student’s proposal to launch a lunchtime Bible club now says it will formally recognize the club next week after being accused of violating the student’s civil and constitutional rights.
Elijah Nelson, 13, the son of a pastor, first proposed a Bible club at Waterville Central Jr./Sr. High School last school year when he learned that students could launch their own clubs.
“Every Sunday I’ve gone to church, and I’ve thought more people should hear what is said in the Bible,” he told National Review.
Per district guidelines, Elijah went about putting together an official proposal for the club and gathered signatures from students who were interested in attending club meetings. But school leaders denied his proposal, “only because the club would be religious,” according to the First Liberty Institute, a public interest law firm that defends religious freedom.
First Liberty sent a five-page letter to Waterville Central School District leaders this week accusing them of violating “Elijah’s civil rights and First Amendment freedoms.”
National Review reached out to the district about the letter on Friday. Superintendent Jennifer Spring responded in an email, writing that, “In line with district policy, the Board of Education, by resolution, will formally establish the Bible Study Club during” its meeting on Tuesday. The district, she said, remains “committed to fostering an environment that values equity, diversity, and meaningful student engagement.”
Waterville Central serves a rural community about 15 minutes south of Utica and has about 800 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, according ot the district’s website. The combined junior and senior high school has more than 20 extracurricular clubs, including bands and choirs, and clubs for art, drama, farming, journalism, skiing, musical production, and a gay-straight alliance.
School leaders first rejected Elijah’s proposal for a Bible club in January. The assistant principal at the time told told Elijah’s father that district lawyers advised her that recognizing the club would unconstitutionally endorse religion, the First Liberty letter says.
When Elijah continued to push for the club, he was told that he could either meet informally with other students during lunch to discuss the Bible or he could apply as an outside organization to use the school facilities after hours, the letter says.
“I didn’t feel too happy,” Elijah said, “because without being official, the school won’t be able to announce [club meetings], and that will make it harder to reach out to more people and read the Bible with others.”
First Liberty said the district’s legal advice was “flawed” and “legally incorrect.” Allowing for secular clubs but denying Elijah the right to start a religious club is a clear violation of the Equal Access Act of 1984, which prohibits federally funded public schools from denying students to the right to meet in groups because of the “religious, political, philosophical, or other content of the speech at such meetings.”
By denying Elijah the right to launch a Bible club, the district also violated his free speech rights and his right to freely exercise his religion, according to First Liberty. The Supreme Court has ruled for decades that public schools can’t discriminate against religion, including in: Good News Club v. Milford Central School, a 2001 ruling that a religious after-school club couldn’t be prohibited from utilizing school facilities; and Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, a 2022 ruling that a Washington state school district couldn’t bar a football coach from praying with players on the field after games.
In her email, Spring said that in January “inaccurate information was shared with a student regarding the ability to officially establish a Bible Study Club and alternative options were proposed to the group. There was renewed interest to start the club in September 2024. The superintendent gave approval for students to have a student-run Bible Club. The students began meeting weekly in the library, which they have been doing since then.”
While the district responded to National Review, it has not yet reached out to First Liberty to acknowledge that the Bible club would be officially recognized, a spokesman said.
First Liberty lawyer Keisha Russell said it’s clear that the law not only allows for a Bible club at Waterville Central but “demands it.”
“A lot of people at this point believe that the separation of church and state means that the government cannot have any dealings with religion, it has to exclude it and it cannot interact with it at all,” Russell said. “In fact, the Supreme Court has said that’s not what the Establishment Clause means.”
The government, including government schools, must remain neutral regarding religion.
“That same idea of neutrality applies here,” she said. “The school doesn’t have to have extracurricular clubs, but if it is going to have extracurricular clubs it must also [allow] religious clubs.”