By Joey Lauer

Once again the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has discriminated against a religious group. In Christian Law Society v. Martinez, the court upheld the actions of the Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. The law school denied to officially recognize a student group because they did not follow the college’s non-discrimination policy. The group in question is the Christian Law Society (CLS) on the grounds that they refuse to allow non-Christians to become voting members or be involved in club leadership. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) is helping to defend the CLS. You can read their account here.

This is clearly undermining the rights of religious groups in schools. Its astonishing how cases like this continually make it past the the higher courts. A Christian law group is not going to be able to fulfill their mission if they are forced to let people be involved who don’t share their vision. What if Campus Crusade for Christ couldn’t deny leadership positions based on religious qualification? It just doesn’t make sense.

Courts like the 9th circuit continually try to introduce small concepts like this, with hopes that they will turn into bigger movements. This is a case that must be reversed to show that we value the rights of religious groups on campuses everywhere.  Thankfully, the ACLJ is currently trying to convince the Supreme Court to overturn this decision. It will be interesting to see what the court makes of this case because it isn’t just vital for Christian groups, its for the protection of all religious clubs.