PHILADELPHIA, May 29 (UPI) -- A high school bible club is suing a Pennsylvania school district for the right to voice their opinions on abortion and homosexuality.
Several students say the Downingtown East High School Prayer Club members just wanted to call themselves the Bible Club, use the word Christian, and put religious symbols on their school posters. But a federal lawsuit filed by three students and two parents seeks to give the club the right to voice their opinions on topics including abortion, homosexuality and premarital sex, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
The newspaper said that was a shock for some at the school, where the prayer group -- which numbers a few dozen members -- was best known for gathering in a circle around the flagpole in front of the school and singing songs before classes.
The Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian organization backing the Downingtown suit, has filed more than two dozen similar lawsuits in other states in recent years, the newspaper said.
A lawyer for the plaintiffs said they had all agreed to the lawsuit's wording, though their primary goals were to be called the Bible Club and to post signs with religious content inside the school.
