Cite as: 533 U. S. 98 (2001)
Souter, J., dissenting
also realized that the Lamb's Chapel criterion was the appropriate measure: "The activities of the Good News Club do not involve merely a religious perspective on the secular subject of morality." 202 F. 3d, at 510. Cf. Lamb's Chapel, supra, at 393 (district could not exclude "religious standpoint" in discussion on child rearing and family values, an undisputed "use for social or civic purposes otherwise permitted" under the use policy).2 The appeals court agreed with the District Court that the undisputed facts in this case differ from those in Lamb's Chapel, as night from day. A sampling of those facts shows why both courts were correct.
Good News's classes open and close with prayer. In a sample lesson considered by the District Court, children are instructed that "[t]he Bible tells us how we can have our sins forgiven by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. It tells us how to live to please Him. . . . If you have received the Lord Jesus as your Saviour from sin, you belong to God's special group—His family." App. to Pet. for Cert. C17-C18 (ellipsis in original). The lesson plan instructs the teacher to "lead a child to Christ," and, when reading a Bible verse, to "[e]mphasize that this verse is from the Bible, God's Word," and is "important—and true—because God said it." The lesson further exhorts the teacher to "[b]e sure to give an opportunity for the 'unsaved' children in your class to respond to the Gospel" and cautions against "neglect[ing] this responsibility." Id., at C20.
While Good News's program utilizes songs and games, the heart of the meeting is the "challenge" and "invitation," which are repeated at various times throughout the lesson.
judgment since the District Court had said explicitly that the religious use limitation was not challenged.
2 It is true, as the majority notes, ante, at 109, n. 3, that the Court of Appeals did not cite Lamb's Chapel by name. But it followed it in substance, and it did cite an earlier opinion written by the author of the panel opinion here, Bronx Household of Faith v. Community School Dist. No. 10, 127 F. 3d 207 (CA2 1997), which discussed Lamb's Chapel at length.
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