“The Good News Club” — An Interview with Katherine Stewart

Journalist Katherine Stewart, author of the recent book The Power Worshippers, has been reporting and writing on the Christian Right for over a dozen years. The whole journey began many years ago with her own experience, as a mother with children of her own attending a small public school in Santa Barbara, CA. Stewart describes what happened to her community when an evangelical child evangelism ministry, the “Good News Club” (GNC) decided to start an after-school Bible study program in her children’s local public school.

Aside from immediate issues that might arise due to its sectarian and fundamentalist Christian nature, another of the major problems with the GNC is this: there’s a very stealthy way they go about doing things. So when they come to town, and propose to open up one of their after-school “Bible study clubs” in a public school, their very presence becomes incredibly divisive in a community, as Stewart describes:

KS: “…So when I first heard of the club [GNC], frankly I didn’t think too much of it. You know, that first email, you know, the bit about targeting kids in their earliest years of learning — kindergarten, first grade — seemed a little weird, but I took for granted it wasn’t a regular part of the school curriculum and some parents might want this kind of thing. I was a bit naive, perhaps, but they…