{"id":269,"date":"2010-04-01T11:15:50","date_gmt":"2010-04-01T11:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/04\/supreme-court-and-protecting-t.html"},"modified":"2010-04-01T11:15:50","modified_gmt":"2010-04-01T11:15:50","slug":"supreme-court-and-protecting-t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/04\/supreme-court-and-protecting-t.html","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court and Protecting the Rights of ALL Students"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jay, <\/p>\n

I’m glad you brought up this soon-to-be-argued controversy.<\/p>\n

Americans United has also joined in on this case, filing a friend-of-the-court brief<\/a> in support of University of California, Hastings College of Law for their commitment to stand up against discrimination. <\/p>\n

The case was originally brought by the Christian Legal Society (CLS) after the law school denied funding and official recognition to the organization. UC-Hastings requires that student groups remain open to all students in order to receive university funding and recognition. CLS refuses to abide by that policy and requires all of its members to sign an evangelical statement of faith, while barring membership to students who engage in “unrepentant homosexual conduct.”<\/p>\n

In 2004, the school told the society<\/a> it could not make an exception to its discrimination policy, but that “if CLS wishes to form independent of Hastings, [the university] would be pleased to provide the organization the use of Hastings facilities for its meetings and activities.” <\/p>\n

As you can see, the school didn’t single out CLS for its beliefs, but rather, asked that the group abide by the same rules that all groups on campus must and do follow. <\/p>\n


\nUC-Hastings seems more than fair in its decision. After all, if the
\nschool gave CLS an exemption from following the non-discrimination
\npolicy, wouldn’t that be extending a special privilege to this
\nparticular religious group that no other student organization has?  <\/p>\n

It seems, however, that “special privileges” for certain religious
\norganizations is the trend these days.  This case is not, as you
\nclaimed, about protecting “the constitutional rights of religious
\ngroups to set membership and leadership criteria according to the
\ndictates of their religious beliefs.” Those rights are already
\nprotected. Rather, both you and I know at the heart of this case is the
\nissue of public funding of faith-based groups. CLS, like many other
\nfaith-based groups, wants to take public funds and be able to
\ndiscriminate and proselytize, too. <\/p>\n

That’s what you would like to see happen. You argue that
\nnon-discrimination policies only apply to the government, which cannot
\nturn around and impose those same policies on private groups like CLS. <\/p>\n

I beg to differ. The Supreme Court has already ruled on that issue, and
\nAmericans United cites this in its brief. Though “the Constitution my
\ncompel toleration of private discrimination in some circumstances does
\nnot mean it requires state support for such discrimination.” Norwood v.
\nHarrison<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

In fact, the Supreme Court has said “it is beyond dispute that any
\npublic entity, state or federal, has a compelling interest in assuring
\nthat public dollars…do not serve to finance the evil of private
\nprejudice.” City of Richmond v. J .A. Croson Co.<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

That leads me to this simple question: Why should students be required to fund the “private prejudices” of CLS? <\/p>\n

No other student group expects this. A current student leader from
\nUC-Hastings’ Jewish Law Students Association (HJLSA) said<\/a> her group
\naccepts and welcomes students from all faith backgrounds. She
\nsaid the university doesn’t “force” them to admit students of other
\nfaiths; it’s merely a choice of whether the group wants university
\nrecognition and funds, or not. <\/p>\n

In fact, HJLSA only accepts school funding to carry out its secular
\nactivities. The group does not even use school funds for religious
\nevents. Instead, to pay for religious activities, such as Shabbat
\ndinners, HJLSA relies on donations from alumni and collaboration with
\nthe local Hillel. But the group chooses to invite all students from
\ndifferent backgrounds to share in religious events.<\/p>\n

That’s how it should be done. What I want to know is why CLS thinks
\nit’s above and beyond following a basic non-discrimination policy that
\nhas been applied neutrally to all student groups – religious or not –
\nacross the board. <\/p>\n

I’d like to hear your answers to my questions, and I hope we can continue discussing this very important case.<\/p>\n

To subscribe to “Lynn v. Sekulow” click <\/font>here<\/font><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jay, I’m glad you brought up this soon-to-be-argued controversy. Americans United has also joined in on this case, filing a friend-of-the-court brief in support of University of California, Hastings College of Law for their commitment to stand up against discrimination. The case was originally brought by the Christian Legal Society (CLS) after the law school…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,40,69],"tags":[324,323,300,51,327,67,326,325],"class_list":["post-269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-courts","category-religious-bigotry","category-supreme-court","tag-christian-legal-society","tag-christian-legal-society-v-martinez","tag-faith-based-funding","tag-news","tag-non-discrimination-policies","tag-politics","tag-the-u-s-supreme-court","tag-university-of-california-hastings-college-of-law"],"yoast_head":"\nSupreme Court and Protecting the Rights of ALL Students - Lynn v. Sekulow<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/04\/supreme-court-and-protecting-t.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supreme Court and Protecting the Rights of ALL Students - Lynn v. Sekulow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jay, I’m glad you brought up this soon-to-be-argued controversy. Americans United has also joined in on this case, filing a friend-of-the-court brief in support of University of California, Hastings College of Law for their commitment to stand up against discrimination. 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Lynn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/32b\/32b0f12cad840c65bff61ad01e2664aax96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/32b\/32b0f12cad840c65bff61ad01e2664aax96.jpg","caption":"Rev. Barry W. Lynn"},"description":"Since 1992, the Rev. Barry W. Lynn has served as executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to the preservation of the Constitution's religious liberty provisions (www.au.org). In addition to his work as a long-time activist and lawyer in the civil liberties field, Lynn is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, offering him a unique perspective on church-state issues. An accomplished speaker and lecturer, Lynn has appeared frequently on television and radio broadcasts to offer analysis of First Amendment issues. News programs on which Lynn has appeared include PBS's \"NewsHour,\" NBC's \"Today Show,\" Fox News Channel's \"O'Reilly Factor,\" ABC's \"Nightline,\" CNN's \"Crossfire,\" CBS's \"60 Minutes,\" MSNBC's \"Countdown with Keith Olbermann,\" Fox News Channel's \"Hannity & Colmes,\" ABC's \"Good Morning America,\" CNN's \"Larry King Live\" and the national nightly news on NBC, ABC and CBS. On the radio, Lynn serves as host of \"Culture Shocks,\" a daily look at various issues affecting society and the culture. In the 1990s he served for two years as regular co-host of \"Pat Buchanan and Company\" and after that did a weekly syndicated radio program, \"Review of the News,\" with Col. Oliver North. Lynn is a regular guest on nationally broadcast radio programs, including National Public Radio's \"All Things Considered,\" \"Morning Edition\" and \"Talk of the Nation,\" as well as having appeared on national networks such as CBS Radio, CNN Radio, ABC Radio and AP Radio. Lynn began his professional career working at the national office of the United Church of Christ, including a two-year stint as legislative counsel for the Church's Office of Church in Society in Washington, D.C. From 1984 to 1991 he was legislative counsel for the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union. In 2006, Lynn authored Piety & Politics: The Right-Wing Assault On Religious Freedom (Harmony Books). In 2008 he coauthored (with C. Welton Gaddy) First Freedom First: A Citizen's Guide to Protecting Religious Liberty and the Separation of Church and State (Beacon Press). Lynn writes frequently on religious liberty issues, and has had essays published in outlets such as USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Nation. Lynn also has op-eds published frequently by the McClatchy and Scripps-Howard newspaper chains. A member of the Washington, D.C. and U.S. Supreme Court bar, Lynn earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1978. In addition, he received his theology degree from Boston University School of Theology in 1973. Lynn, who was born in Harrisburg, Pa., and raised in Bethlehem, Pa., lives in Chevy Chase, Md., with his family.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/author\/blynn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}