Supreme Court Ruling May Affect Campus Works
Here's the Supreme Court ruling we were all waiting for. This ruling did not come out in favor of the Christian Legal Society. Because the CLS refused membership to openly gay members, the group was banned as an official group at Cal's Hastings School of Law. CLS asked all members to sign a statement of faith that committed them to avoiding immoral sexual behavior.
Here's how the New York Times reports it:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- An ideologically split Supreme Court ruled Monday that a law school can legally deny recognition to a Christian student group that won't let gays join, with one justice saying that the First Amendment does not require a public university to validate or support the group's ''discriminatory practices.''
The court turned away an appeal from the Christian Legal Society, which sued to get funding and recognition from the University of California's Hastings College of the Law. The CLS requires that voting members sign a statement of faith and regards ''unrepentant participation in or advocacy of a sexually immoral lifestyle'' as being inconsistent with that faith.
But Hastings, which is in San Francisco, said no recognized campus groups may exclude people due to religious belief or sexual orientation.
The court on a 5-4 judgment upheld the lower court rulings saying the Christian group's First Amendment rights of association, free speech and free exercise were not violated by the college's nondiscrimination policy.
''In requiring CLS -- in common with all other student organizations -- to choose between welcoming all students and forgoing the benefits of official recognition, we hold, Hastings did not transgress constitutional limitations,'' said Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who wrote the 5-4 majority opinion for the court's liberals and moderate Anthony Kennedy. ''CLS, it bears emphasis, seeks not parity with other organizations, but a preferential exemption from Hastings' policy.''
Justice Samuel Alito wrote a strong dissent for the court's conservatives, saying the opinion was ''a serious setback for freedom of expression in this country.''
''Our proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express 'the thought that we hate,''' Alito said, quoting a previous court decision. ''Today's decision rests on a very different principle: no freedom for expression that offends prevailing standards of political correctness in our country's institutions of higher learning.''
The decision is a large setback for the Christian Legal Society, which has chapters at universities nationwide and has won similar lawsuits in other courts.
For the full article click here.
I'm personally unhappy with this ruling, but I don't think this is an "Armageddon" scenario for Christian campus ministries. Let's not be too quick to judge since CLS may have been looking for this fight.
Today's ruling should serve, however, as a shot across the bow. If campus ministries want to reap the benefits of "official" status at university campuses, then they forfeit the right to set their own rules. And that is something we just can't tolerate.
Here's how the New York Times reports it:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- An ideologically split Supreme Court ruled Monday that a law school can legally deny recognition to a Christian student group that won't let gays join, with one justice saying that the First Amendment does not require a public university to validate or support the group's ''discriminatory practices.''
The court turned away an appeal from the Christian Legal Society, which sued to get funding and recognition from the University of California's Hastings College of the Law. The CLS requires that voting members sign a statement of faith and regards ''unrepentant participation in or advocacy of a sexually immoral lifestyle'' as being inconsistent with that faith.
But Hastings, which is in San Francisco, said no recognized campus groups may exclude people due to religious belief or sexual orientation.
The court on a 5-4 judgment upheld the lower court rulings saying the Christian group's First Amendment rights of association, free speech and free exercise were not violated by the college's nondiscrimination policy.
''In requiring CLS -- in common with all other student organizations -- to choose between welcoming all students and forgoing the benefits of official recognition, we hold, Hastings did not transgress constitutional limitations,'' said Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who wrote the 5-4 majority opinion for the court's liberals and moderate Anthony Kennedy. ''CLS, it bears emphasis, seeks not parity with other organizations, but a preferential exemption from Hastings' policy.''
Justice Samuel Alito wrote a strong dissent for the court's conservatives, saying the opinion was ''a serious setback for freedom of expression in this country.''
''Our proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express 'the thought that we hate,''' Alito said, quoting a previous court decision. ''Today's decision rests on a very different principle: no freedom for expression that offends prevailing standards of political correctness in our country's institutions of higher learning.''
The decision is a large setback for the Christian Legal Society, which has chapters at universities nationwide and has won similar lawsuits in other courts.
For the full article click here.
I'm personally unhappy with this ruling, but I don't think this is an "Armageddon" scenario for Christian campus ministries. Let's not be too quick to judge since CLS may have been looking for this fight.
Today's ruling should serve, however, as a shot across the bow. If campus ministries want to reap the benefits of "official" status at university campuses, then they forfeit the right to set their own rules. And that is something we just can't tolerate.
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