Real Encounter Outreach a self-described “evangelistic outreach” group — with a character development message woven throughout held assemblies in the Topeka area school districts. Doug Bonney, legal director of the ACLU of Kansas reached out to the districts holding the assemblies to ensure religious content was withheld during school hours.
"Doug Bonney, chief counsel and legal director for the ACLU Foundation of Kansas, said he hadn’t heard about Real Encounter until a Capital-Journal article outlining the three-day crusade.
So Bonney reached out to the districts Real Encounter was planning on visiting. During their time in Topeka, Real Encounter spoke to students in the Topeka, Shawnee Heights, Silver Lake and Kaw Valley districts.
“We’re willing to take some of these groups at face value if they say they’ve created school assemblies that are not religious then we’re willing to accept that as true, but we want to verify that it’s true,” Bonney said about how the ACLU approaches groups with religious affiliations.
He said the tactic came from former President Ronald Reagan’s approach to the Soviet Union.
“We trust but verify,” he said.
The ACLU, according to Bonney, has “absolutely” no objection to people sharing their religious views with students, but it can’t be during school hours."
Read the entire Topeka Capital-Journal article from April 18, 2015.