Teens for Christ Battle with Huntington School!

By Terry Coville, Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California

January 16, 1969, North America

Teens for Christ carried their battle for Jesus to the front of Huntington Beach High School Tuesday afternoon and continued it on to the evening meeting of the Huntington Beach Union High.

Protesting what they term “education’s muzzle on religion,” about 15 or 20 hippie-clad Teens for Christ picketed the high school from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., carrying signs calling for a return to Christ and passing out religious tracts to students leaving classes.

The picketing was brought on by a warning from school officials to Mike Wallis, 15, a Huntington Beach High sophomore who was told not to pass out religious tracts on the school grounds.

The same evening the Christian revolutionaries returned to the school area to picket the Board of Trustees’ meeting at district offices, across Main Street from the Huntington Beach High School campus.

“Uncle” Dave Berg, leader of the group spoke to the trustees, citing the First Amendment and several Supreme Court decisions as reasons for allowing the teens to distribute religious leaflets on school grounds.