Government tells Bible clubs to not mention God or Jesus
By Charles Biggs
Tulsa Beacon Editor
The City of Tulsa and the federal government may shut down summer Bible clubs in poor apartment complexes because someone thinks federal policy prohibits religious activity.
A leader of the Bible group said she was told unless club leaders agree not to say “God” or “Jesus” during their lessons at public community centers, they would be forced to take their Bible classes elsewhere.
For more than 10 years, Child Evangelism Fellowship has conducted Bible lessons for children in federally subsidized housing projects. This summer, an employee of Youth at Heart, a United Way agency formed in 2003, informed CEF that according to federal policy, the Bible clubs could continue in the centers but leaders couldn’t say the names of God or Jesus.
“I received a call from the program director of Youth At Heart (Margaret Berry-Biggs), which holds the contracts on Tulsa Housing apartment recreation centers, notifying us that they wanted us to continue holding 5-Day Clubs in the apartment complexes this summer, but they are now under different guidelines due to government and city funding which now bans all groups which do ‘religious’ instruction from using their building facilities,” said Dayla Koehn of CEF. “She told me we were more than welcome to come as long as we didn’t mention God or Jesus. We would need to just teach stories that would encourage the children to love others and develop good moral character or we could probably hold clubs outside.”
Youth at Heart claims it is a Tulsa Housing Authority policy.
“This is not our policy, but the policy of the Tulsa Housing Authority,” said Rodney Gray, education director for Youth at Heart. “The policy has been around for a while and we just started enforcing it.”
When asked whether he thought the policy was fair or violated constitutional freedom of speech, Gray said, “I can’t speak to that. You will have to talk to the Tulsa Housing Authority.”
LeDeanna Anderson, vice president and CEO for THA, said that HUD policy prohibits any religious activities in the centers and that it was a mistake to ever let CEF hold Bible clubs in those locations.
“If we take federal dollars, we can’t sponsor religious events,” Anderson said. “We can’t sanction anything on those sites. That’s the HUD policy.
“We didn’t give them permission to do this. Someone has acted outside their boundaries.”
The CEF 5-Day Clubs are voluntary. They receive no federal funds. They teach the Bible and invite the children to accept Christ and become Christians. Koehn said the clubs have operated without any problems since 1992 and she said they have had a transformational impact on the spiritual lives of some of the children.
“After more research, I found that the resident associations of each site can sponsor the Bible Study,” Anderson said later. “They may be able to have the Bible study at the sites if the resident associations will be responsible for the activities and no THA employees or direct recipients of HUD funds are involved.”
Some of the THA sites that have had CEF Bible clubs are Apache Manor, Comanche Park, East Central Village, Mohawk Manor, Parkview Terrace, Riverview Park and Seminole Hills.
According to a HUD policy cited by Anderson, “Religious organizations are eligible, on the same basis as any other organization, to participate in HUD’s programs and activities. Neither the federal government, nor a state or local government, nor any other entity that administers any HUD program or activity shall discriminate against an organization on the basis of the organization’s religious character or affiliation…
“Organizations that receive direct HUD funds (CEF does not) under a HUD program or activity may not engage in inherently religious activities, such as worship, religious instruction or proselytization, as part of the programs or services funded under a HUD program or activity. If an organization conducts such inherently religious activities, the inherently religious activities must be offered separately, in time or location, from the programs, activities, or services supported by direct HUD funds and participation must be voluntary for the beneficiaries of the programs, activities or services provided under the HUD program…”
The policy does indicate that programs can require “more specific” and therefore more restrictive policies.
Donna White, a national spokesman for HUD, said she researched the issue and found no HUD policy prohibiting the Bible clubs or a ban on saying God or Jesus.
She said HUD did have a policy that if such access is offered, it must be given equally to all religious groups.
“HUD has no rules or regulations prohibiting the activity,” White said. “The housing authority could establish that rule. We don’t prohibit any sort of religious activity.”
The Tulsa Housing Board of Commissioners is Ruth K. Nelson, Reuben Gant, Annie Mae Barnes, realtor Chuck Patterson and Scott Zarrow. Board members are appointed by Mayor Kathy Taylor.