In 2022, we informed you about the anti-religious discrimination encountered by Vida Real, a large Hispanic church in Somerville, when they sought approval from their local school committee to open a religious school. Despite complying with Massachusetts law, which requires school committee approval to establish a school, Vida Real experienced months of delays. The Somerville School Committee, motivated by an apparent bias against the Christian values the new school represented, questioned the school’s ability to adequately teach students, particularly on issues of creation and human sexuality.
Realizing that they were being opposed for their religious beliefs, Vida Real reached out to MFI for help. We partnered with First Liberty, to step in and protect the church’s constitutional rights by sending a legal letter demanding that the school committee and superintendent grant the school’s application immediately or face legal liability.
Because of MFI’s and First Liberty’s legal advocacy, the Somerville School Committee relented and passed the measure to approve the school, with one school committee member Emily Ackman admitting, “If we didn’t vote to approve, we’d be sued, and we would lose is the short of it.”
“They meet the legal standards,” said another committee member Ellenor Barish. “It isn’t our task to evaluate the philosophy behind the proposed school or their teaching methods,” she continued. Yet that was the hang-up for most of the committee’s members.
In 2023, a similar story played out in Greenfield. A community of Romanian and Moldovan immigrants from Providence Baptist Church in Greenfield, Massachusetts, applied to establish Providence Christian Academy. But instead of supporting these hardworking, caring parents invested in their children’s education, the Greenfield School Committee tried to stop them by not approving the launch of the school. One school committee member took issue with the school’s plan to use the biblically based Abeka curriculum because she disagreed with how the program would teach topics such as homosexuality and evolution.
We learned about this outrageous discrimination through a member of Massachusetts Informed Parents, and reached out to church leadership right away to offer support. Not willing to give up their rights, brave church leadership had already made contact with another MFI partner, Liberty Counsel. Liberty Counsel issued a demand letter to the Mayor of Greenfield, the Superintendent, and members of the school committee, notifying them that if the rights of the church members were not respected and the school was not approved, the district would be sued. After receiving the letter, the Greenfield School Committee voted to approve Providence Christian Academy.
Victory stories like these are worth sharing because it’s important to know that it’s still possible to ‘win’ in Massachusetts. It’s also important to know that, if your church or Christian school is facing anti-religious discrimination, MFI is here for you.
We are doubling down on our efforts to protect fundamental rights in the Commonwealth. That’s why we are excited to announce the launch of Massachusetts Legal Liberty Center. MLLC’s mission is to promote a flourishing culture in which free speech is respected, religious liberty is cherished, and families thrive in Massachusetts. We will do this by providing excellent legal representation in strategic cases that will advance these causes.
With this new expansion of our legal advocacy, we are now more prepared than ever to protect the rights of the religious community in Massachusetts. If you have questions about your religious liberty rights or feel they have been violated, contact us today at [email protected].
Your generous support enables MFI to expand our legal advocacy to protect religious liberty in the Commonwealth. Give a gift today!
