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The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal by a Christian student organization that says a public law school in San Francisco violated its rights by denying it recognition for limiting participation by nonbelievers and gays.
See the SC ruling in favor of the Boy Scouts for insight into the potential decision:
"In today's majority opinion, written by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the Court said the Boy Scouts' right to express their views against lesbians and gay men would be hampered if the organization was forced to admit openly gay people as leaders. The Court said that lesbians and gay people, if they are honest about their sexual orientation, make a statement in their very existence, and groups like the Boy Scouts therefore have a right to exclude them."
Sounds like the same ruling could indeed be applied to this Christian college group.
See the SC ruling in favor of the Boy Scouts for insight into the potential decision:
Sounds like the same ruling could indeed be applied to this Christian college group.
I think that's a pretty different case. This Christian group is on a public school campus and receives funding from the school - probably in the form of student fees that are paid by all students.
I can see them being allowed to exclude certain groups if they weren't taking the funding, but if they're going to take the money, they need to let everybody participate in their group.
Just like the Christian group has a right to exclude atheists and gays, another Christian group can spring up and accept atheists and gays just like a gay group can form and exclude Christians.
See the SC ruling in favor of the Boy Scouts for insight into the potential decision:
"In today's majority opinion, written by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the Court said the Boy Scouts' right to express their views against lesbians and gay men would be hampered if the organization was forced to admit openly gay people as leaders. The Court said that lesbians and gay people, if they are honest about their sexual orientation, make a statement in their very existence, and groups like the Boy Scouts therefore have a right to exclude them."
Sounds like the same ruling could indeed be applied to this Christian college group.
Very different issue. The Boys Scouts is a private organization. A public college is not. The legal reasoning in these two cases will be very different.
That said, I think the Courts will determine that it is legal for a student group at a public school (college or otherwise) to determine its own membership - even if it falls along the gender/sex/sexual orientation/race/religion line etc, etc, etc - provided that the institution allows for those excluded groups to set up and run their own organizations. I feel that's the correct decision, and that's why I voted "YES" in this poll.
I think this lawsuit is ridiculous. If some college has a Homophobic Christian Club, why would gays and atheists want to join it anyway? To me, this just seems like a self-righteous way to shut these homophobic Christians down - and I think that's pretty disgusting. Why not just start their own groups that reflects their values?
I think this lawsuit is ridiculous. If some college has a Homophobic Christian Club, why would gays and atheists want to join it anyway?
At first glance, I thought the same thing, but there's a matter of principle involved. If one group is allowed to exclude gays and atheists, what's to stop another group from excluding any other category of people? A white fraternity could then openly say, "No blacks allowed". I'm not sure that most people want to return to a world like that.
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