Fellowship of Christian Athletes Let Back in San Jose Schools After Court Rejects District’s ‘Double Standard’

Ninth Circuit ruling boosts First Amendment protections for faith groups denied campus access.

Serving as the Bay Area director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), Rigo Lopez didn’t expect that his work would involve court depositions and early morning emails with lawyers. Or that he’d have to pray for and defend students whose teachers campaigned against their club and its convictions.

But Monday marks a long-awaited milestone in the Christian organization’s legal fight in California. FCA learned it can finally return to San Jose public schools—four years after losing its official recognition over its faith statement and a month after a significant First Amendment ruling in federal appeals court.

Following major religious liberty decisions at the Supreme Court, the FCA ruling offers a new precedent for free exercise protections. “It makes other cases much more likely to succeed,” according to Becket senior counsel Daniel Blomberg, part of the legal team for FCA.

FCA’s case was the latest in a string of lawsuits over campus access for Christian clubs. The Christian Legal Society at UC Hastings, the Chinese Student Christian Fellowship at the University of Iowa, and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Tufts, Vanderbilt, Wayne State, and Cal State have gone through similar fights.

After almost 20 years in operation in San Jose local schools, FCA was similarly denied approval as a student club in 2019, when it was declared in violation of district-wide nondiscrimination policies. A teacher at one school, Pioneer High, had campaigned against the club’s “anti-gay prerequisites,” since FCA’s faith statement for student leaders included a line about God instituting marriage between a man and a woman.

Following the pandemic, the San Jose school district ...

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