Good News Clubs

Americans United - Greater Los Angeles chapter hosted Katherine Stewart, investigative journalist and author of the new book, The Good News Club: The Religious Right's Assault on America's Children in March 2012. We learned that the Good News Club (GNC) franchise, a program created by Christian Nationalists to proselytize directly to public school children between 4 and 14 based on a 2001 Supreme Court ruling, is spreading like wildfire across America's landscape.  As of 2012, GNCs are estimated to be in over 11,000 elementary schools across the US, with more than 400 of those in the greater Los Angeles area.

But we don't know which schools host them. The GNC program host, the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), doesn't share that information with the public. Only parents and staff directly connected to a school would know that their school is hosting a GNC. And even they aren't likely to know unless they're paying attention, because the program is normally introduced very benignly as a "non-denominational after-school Bible Study class".

But once they are in, they aggressively promote their conservative and intolerant ideological agenda as part of the normal school program and train the schoolchildren to proselytize to their family and friends.

This list is an attempt to identify those schools in the Los Angeles metro area that are hosting Good News Clubs in order to alert parents and assist them in networking with others who are concerned about this use of our public schools for what is, in essence, sanctioned religious bullying.  If you know of a school that is hosting a Good News Club, please let us know and we will post it to this list.  If you are connected to one of these schools and want to reach others who share your concerns or receive other information from AU, send us an email and we will put you in touch with those who brought the group to our attention.

CitySchool DistrictElementary SchoolSince/As of
AltadenaAltadena Unified School DistrictNoyes Elementary2007?
PasadenaPasadena Unified School DistrictDaniel Webster ElementaryJan 2012
PasadenaPasadena Unified School DistrictSan Rafael ElementaryMarch 2012
PasadenaPasadena Unified School DistrictLongfellow ElementaryOct 2011
NorthridgeLos Angeles Unified School DistrictBeckford ElementarySept 2013

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