Christian sports org seeks relief from religious discrimination in lawsuit

Two clubs of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) filed a lawsuit Tuesday against a New Jersey school district after the district banned adult volunteers from mentoring students in religious groups on school campuses.

“That is just what the Supreme Court has said again and again that governments cannot do: they cannot ‘single out the religious for disfavored treatment,’” reads the lawsuit, filed by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

FCA, founded in 1954, supports student-athletes living out their faith on and off the field, according to Becket’s press release. The religious group hosts “Huddles,” or student-led clubs, across college, high school and middle school campuses where students gather for fellowship, prayer, Bible study and games. FCA staff and local volunteers join these gatherings to mentor and encourage the students.

“The volunteers play an important role in this religious practice, providing voluntary spiritual guidance to FCA students who request it, mentoring them to assist them in being bold in their faith, and – when asked – praying for them,” the lawsuit explained.

Huddles were meeting weekly or bi-monthly at Central High School and Timberlane Middle School in New Jersey for years without any issues, the release explained. But the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent a letter to the school district in March 2025, complaining about the local volunteers and demanding the district investigate and forbid these adults to “regularly lead, attend, or participate in student religious clubs,” according to the lawsuit.

In compliance with FFRF’s request, the school district issued a new policy that restricted religious clubs from having volunteers at their campus meetings.

“All kinds of groups do exactly what FCA wants to do and needs to do as part of its practice of its faith, but the school district is saying they can’t do that because they’re religious, and that’s against the law,” Becket senior counsel and lead attorney for FCA Joe Davis told Heartlander News in an interview.

Various other clubs, such as the robotics club and environmental club, invite local volunteers to join groups on campus, but only religious clubs can no longer do so, according to the school district’s new restrictions.

“This damaging double standard is precisely the type of discrimination the Constitution and civil rights law forbid,” the lawsuit states.

FCA tried to resolve the discrimination “amicably,” but the district “dug in,” Davis said, adding that after a year, FCA filed the lawsuit Tuesday. The school district is violating the First and 14th Amendments as well as various other civil rights laws, including the Equal Access Act and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, the lawsuit claims.

“To the extent that it’s based on some sort of understanding of the First Amendment, it got things exactly backwards because the First Amendment permits voluntary religious practice by students at school, and it forbids discrimination against religious groups, so they’ve really got things backwards as far as the law goes,” Davis said.

The Equal Access Act, passed by Congress in 1984, protects religious student groups from discrimination on public secondary school campuses, Davis explained, adding that FCA’s case in New Jersey is exactly within this law’s safeguards.

“I think that’s going to be a really important aspect of this case, and it shows you know not only the Constitution but Congress speaking to this exact situation and providing instruction on what’s supposed to happen here.”

Davis said the restrictions have had “a huge impact” on FCA students and staff members and the clubs will seek a “speedy result” to resume this “extremely valuable” mentorship as early as this fall.

“We don’t want that to happen for yet another school year, having these kids deprived of their support,” he said.

Even the school admits the benefits of adult volunteers and their involvement with students, Davis said.

“The school itself recognizes the value of adult volunteers. They say adult volunteers are great for high school students. They connect the community with the high school. They provide positive role models,” Davis said. “And all FCA is saying is we want to have exactly that for our students too.”

One FCA volunteer, FCA New Jersey Area Director Carolyn McDonough, attended Hopewell Valley’s Central High School and participated in FCA Huddles, Davis explained. McDonough now hopes to invest in these students after experiencing FCA’s impact.

“As an inaugural member of FCA at Hopewell Valley’s Central High School, I know firsthand how much mentors mean to students,” McDonough said in a statement. “They helped me grow in my relationship with Jesus and live out my faith through sports. Now I have the privilege of doing the same for today’s students. I pray the court will let me continue that ministry.”