Sherman v. Community Consolidated School District 21 of Wheeling Township involved an Establishment Clause challenge to a school district policy that allowed the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) to use space in schools for meetings, to distribute literature about the organization in class, and to post signs about upcoming meetings on school grounds. Specifically, a student and his father contended that the district favored religion over non-religion by allowing the BSA, which requires its members to believe in God, to use school premises free of charge and to distribute membership solicitations through classrooms. Applying the test from Lemon v. Kurtzman, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit concluded that the district policy regarding the BSA did not violate the Establishment Clause. First, the provision of meeting rooms for the BSA did not favor religion because the rooms were provided to a range of youth-oriented organizations pursuant to a policy that treats all groups equally regardless of religion. The court reasoned that, to the extent that a religious group is merely one of many different voluntary clubs, students will perceive no message of government endorsement of religion. Similarly, allowing the BSA to distribute its membership solicitations through classrooms and to post its announcements on school property does not constitute endorsement of religion because many organizations, both religious and nonreligious, are allowed to distribute flyers and post signs at the school so long as materials meet the criteria of a religiously neutral policy; therefore, students would not perceive that the state is specifically promoting the values of the BSA. Thus, neither the provision of facilities or allowing the BSA to distribute its materials in school violated the Establishment Clause.
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