Supreme Court’s 5-4 Ruling Undermines Religious Liberty

Does  group have to hand over its convictions in order to stay alive? On Monday, June 28, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court gave its ruling to the recently-argued Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (U.C. Hastings).  The issue in this case was whether the Christian Legal Society at the University of California – Hastings Law School should be disqualified because it refused to recognize gay and unbelieving students into its leadership.  Based on campus policy, the law school argued that it should be.

Like most colleges and universities around the nation, the University of California – Hastings College of Law officially allows certain student organizations to operate within the life of the school. Until recently, the Christian Legal Society had been one of those groups. But, controversy arose about five years ago when leaders of the Christian Legal Society’s chapter at Hastings asserted the national policy of the organization, which states: “In view of the clear dictates of Scripture, unrepentant participation in and advocacy of a sexually immoral lifestyle is inconsistent with an affirmation of the Statement of Faith.”

As the Los Angeles Times reported, the issue before the nation’s high court was “whether a Christian student group’s right to religious liberty and the freedom of association can trump a university’s ban on discrimination against gays and lesbians.” Of course, another way of stating the same issue is this: Must a Christian organization surrender its Christian convictions in order to be recognized by a secular university?

The Christian Legal Society describes its mission as “to inspire, encourage, and equip lawyers and law students, both individually and in community, to proclaim, love and serve Jesus Christ through the study and practice of law, the provision of legal assistance to the poor, and the defense of religious freedom and sanctity of human life.” It also states that it is a “fellowship of Christian lawyers and law students.”

At the heart of the foundational principles of the Christian Legal Society as well as churches is the core statement of God himself to His people, “Be ye therefore holy because I am holy” which mandates a manner of conduct reflecting his character and commandments which include certain moral imperatives. The rationale at the nucleus of Christian conduct is not an arbitrary point of ideology it is a directive of God that must not be compromised regardless of pressure from other sources of authority.

The Christian Legal Society’s “Statement of Faith” is clearly rooted in evangelical Christian beliefs, and the group is candid in pointing to its Christian intellectual, moral, and organizational commitments. It is involved in local chapters across the country and in student fellowships on many law school campuses. The CLS understanding of “unrepentant participation in and advocacy of a sexually immoral lifestyle” as “inconsistent” with the organization’s Statement of Faith ran into a head-on collision with the hierarchy of the Hastings College of Law. The school’s administration told the group it would lose its recognition because its stance on sexuality violated the school’s policy against discrimination based on “race, color, religion, national origin, disability, age, sex, or sexual orientation.”

Back in December, the U. S. Supreme Court agreed to take the case after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, infamous for its consistent anti-Christian decisions, ruled against the Christian Legal Society’s Hastings chapter.

Make no mistake about it the basic issue upon which the 5-4 high court decision pivots is whether Christian organizations can remain Christian in the light of such anti-discrimination codes and policies. The case pitting the Hastings College of Law against the Christian Legal Society presents the nation — and its highest court — with an inescapable question: Are Christian organizations to be allowed to remain Christian, or must they all trash their beliefs and morph into secularized associations?

A ruling that the Christian Legal Society must surrender its biblical convictions in order to remain a recognized campus organization would not only mean that religious liberty stops at the law school door but is also locked out of practically every other door in our society. Obviously, much is riding on this case and the steady increase in the singling out of Christian groups as the object of secular bullying is plainly evident. The same logic used against the Christian Legal Society in this case can be used to argue that any Christian organization, school, or institution no longer serves the community’s welfare if it holds such policies regardless of the fact that they are clearly Bible based convictions. How long, then, before similar arguments are made against churches and Christian schools? You don’t have to be brilliant to answer that one.

Can Christian organizations remain Christian in an age of political correctness that masquerades as “ideologically tolerant?” Far more is at stake here than one legal society’s rights. Sadly, the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision which concluded that public universities may override a religious student group’s rights to determine its leadership has religious liberty hanging by a very thin thread in America.