Wave lifts policy banning religious music

By KRISTI ALBERTSON

Informal groups will be allowed to play music of their choice

The Daily Inter Lake

The Wave board of directors voted in a formal meeting Wednesday morning to lift its ban on religious music.

In a unanimous vote, the board decided that when groups of members meet informally for unofficial classes, instructors may play any music they choose. The Wave will not pay instructors for unscheduled classes, nor will the health club schedule or promote the classes.

The board also included a sentence that will appear in the club's employee handbook, which states, "While leading Wave-scheduled or Wave-sponsored classes or activities, instructors' incorporation of religious elements into such classes shall be incidental only."

Three board members were unable to attend the meeting, but they communicated their agreement with the policy via e-mail, said Jim Lacey, the board's attorney.

The directors outlawed religious music after receiving complaints about contemporary Christian music played during an early morning spinning class. The class was initially an informal group of Wave members, but due to the class's increasing popularity, the club began paying instructor Bob Bouillon. It became a regularly scheduled class.

When a couple of members complained about the music Bouillon played, The Wave forbade religious music in all classes. The board cited the club's inclusiveness policy as the reason for the ban, saying it tries to eliminate music people might find offensive.

But the people who attended the class said the policy wasn't applied across the board; The Wave allowed other classes with music they found offensive. Furthermore, they said the class's Christian music was the reason they attended.

Once Bouillon stopped playing religious music, people stopped going to class.

Last week, Bouillon, attorney Jim Ramlow and Wave member Joe Coco addressed the board of directors. Coco, reading from a prepared statement, told the board that the ban "raises serious constitutional questions," and that allowing religious music in classes was not, as the board feared, a violation of the Establishment Clause.

Coco is satisfied with the board's decision.

"I am now content that I don't have to check my First Amendment rights at the front desk," he wrote in an e-mail addressed to his supporters.

The new policy is available on The Wave's Web site, www.whitefishwave.com.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com