Supreme Court Turns Down Appeal Request From Christian Fraternity and Sorority
- Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:17pm by
Mytheos Holt
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WASHINGTON (AP/The Blaze) — The Supreme Court has turned down an appeal from Christian groups that challenged a discrimination policy at California state universities.
The justices on Monday are leaving in place a federal appeals court ruling that found that the policy doesn’t violate the Constitution. The policy says officially recognized campus groups can’t discriminate based on religion or sexual orientation.
A Christian fraternity and a sorority at San Diego State University sued in 2005, arguing that the policy violates their religious freedom. The groups are restricted to Christian members.
The San Francisco Chronicle offers these details:
CSU denies official recognition and funding to student organizations that discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, national origin and sexual orientation.
The Christian groups at San Diego State argued that the policy itself was discriminatory for two reasons: The ban on gender-based admissions doesn’t apply to sororities and fraternities, and secular organizations are allowed to make viewpoint-based distinctions – an immigrants’-rights group, for example, can exclude opponents of immigrants’ rights and still receive funding.
“The university did not tell the Democratic club it must be led by a Republican, or the vegetarian club it must be led by a meat-eater, but it did tell Christian groups that they must allow themselves to be led by atheists,” David Cortman of the Alliance Defense Fund, a lawyer for the religious groups, said Monday.
The case is Alpha Delta Chi-Delta Chapter v. Reed, 11-744.
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Comments (64)
christianUSA
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 1:27pmOpinion: this type of things has been done before decades ago; we were force out of meeting room to meet independently on a campus lawn, but in rain and poor weather that is not practical; also with college students busy schedules group dwindled due to not being shown in school paper or directory or posted time and place; atheist professors also pulled numerous dirty tricks to disrupt and stop even this. This also is to condition our youth to the false idea that they do not have the right of free unrestricted worship and grows the myth of separation of church and state to shove religion out of all things public! This now is aimed at goal of outlawing Christian groups in college; think about it either as US citizen you have the right to worship with those of like mind or not weather officially recognized or not by this wrapped reasoning even a private group, say a church, openly meeting excluding gays or others of different ideological views membership or leadership could be legally challenged, yes some may laugh now but that is their goal.
Report Post »loviedivine
Posted on March 22, 2012 at 9:27amThis ruling saddened me as I have come to realize how UN-American the Supreme Court’s rulings on Constitutional issues has become. I wake up each day now seeing this great country being whittled away by Justices of the Supreme Court who in my opinion are no longer for true America.
Report Post »cemerius
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 11:06amSilly Christains get back in the “closet”….it’s the time for Sodam and Gamorreah to rule again…..(sp)…May God look favorably on those they do not look back!
Report Post »Strat-M16
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 8:27am@ Worldsapart – right you are. Let them sue to keep Christians out.
Report Post »cemerius
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 11:08amWonder if I could be the “token whiteguy” in the local chapter of the New Black Panthers?
Report Post »Git-R-Done
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 12:51amI don’t see these same hypocrites who are whining over Christian fraternities and sororities discriminating complaining about homosexual or Muslim or non-white or all female fraternities or sororities discriminating against certain groups of people. But to these same social left wing hypocrites, it’s only wrong for white Christian heterosexual males to discriminate. It’s ok for other groups to discriminate.
Report Post »Worldsapart
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 12:47amTime for the Christian kids to all join the GayClub together. And then always want to do a prayer circle and read some Leviticus at meetings. Play their games. Be wise as serpents. Gentle as doves.
Report Post »liberal reaction
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 6:12amYou shall not shave around the sides of your heads, neither shall you disfigure the corners of your beard.
Leviticus 19:27
“‘Keep my decrees.
Report Post »“‘Do not mate different kinds of animals.
“‘Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed.
“‘Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.
Leviticus 19:19
Better check you hair and your shirt buddy. LOL.
vaman
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 8:45amLiberal Reaction…that was perfect. As always, some people on this sight only quote the bible stuff they want and disregard the rest.
Report Post »mdeputy7
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 9:35amReally Liberal Reaction? You know nothing about the Bible or its uses. You quote a verse from the Old Testament that was focused at a specific people for a specific reason. If you actually read the entire section, you would see that. The devil uses bits and pieces of Scripture as ‘half-truths’ to deceive and lead astray. Do you really want to be associated with the devil?
Read the New Testament. That’s where Christianity is derived from. The Old Testament is a history of Judaism that gives us a background as to why we believe what we believe. God did that on purpose to give us physical facts that we can look back on to prove the spiritual things that we know in our hearts. Stop trolling on here and try to have an educated response please. I don’t mind if you disagree, but quit attacking people whilst hiding behind your keyboard.
Report Post »fbanta
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 12:27amThe 1st Amendment denies Congress, the only Branch of the federal government authorized to make laws, any authority to pass any law restricting the free exercise of religion. It is so simply stated that only a fool can misunderstand it.
The 14th Amendment: “…No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;…” The 1st Amendment makes us immune to government restriction on the free exercise of religion. The 14th extends that prohibition to State and local governments.
There is no political entity in America with any authority to restrict the free exercise of religion. Period.
Any federal officer or other officer of the court that endeavors to restrict the free exercise of religion can only do so by repudiating their sacred oath of office that is a prerequisite of their being delegated any authority. In other words they relinquish and repudiate all authority of their office.
And that is why our Founders had tar, feathers, and fence rails in ample supply everywhere.
Report Post »TheCurator
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 12:34amAt last, a rational utterance.
Report Post »liberal reaction
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 6:31amThat’s great news. Give me your address so I can perform Satanic Rituals on your front lawn.
Report Post »USAF2003
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 7:18amSo simple yet so hard for libs to understand.
Report Post »neocon1
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 7:40amAaaaaaaaaaa men to that, start telling the govt to shove it where the light dont shine.
Report Post »dpselfe
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 11:09am@liberal reaction: If you show up at my house, I’ll exercise my 1st and 2nd Ammendment rights. and have you removed, by force, if necessary.
Your freedom to be you includes my freedom to be free from you.
Report Post »valleyfever
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 10:08pmWhen you take financial support from the university you have to play by their rules. Why do you think they FUND these organizations. Nothing wrong with being a non-recognized, non-univeristy funded sorority/fraternity is there?
Report Post »paperpushermj
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 10:31pmSo If you take the money you forfeit your right of free Association?
Report Post »If that is your Argument then I ask you what other Rights do you forfeit?
Moshy1
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 11:02pmYes if you take money, there are strings attached, so DON’T TAKE IT!
Report Post »TheCurator
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 12:36amOur creator gives us the rights, and they are UNALIENABLE, attempts at bribes notwithstanding.
Report Post »TheCurator
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 12:41amAll welfare recipients from the federal government are hereby excluded from the Constitution of the United States, correct?
Report Post »deeberj
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 11:22amTaking money from the federal gov’t should not mean the constitution can be ignored. But we’ve been going down that path a long time now, and with this president we are swiftly moving towards the constitution being done away with.
Report Post »MTNative
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 9:51pmThis will be the great fight of our day. The social war that is coming will try to destroy religion in the name of equality. As religious people we have already lost any secular argument against homosexuality. We lost this battle long ago when we accepted sex out of wedlock as normal, and adultery as commonplace. We also accepted defeat when we accepted the notion that what someone else does behind closed doors does not affect anyone else. Now we are faced with a fight between faith based groups and sexually deviant groups. These are the small battles before the great war.
Report Post »Git-R-Done
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 12:23amIt‘s not true that we’ve lost those arguments. The left just wants people to believe that lie so that they can further their agenda.
Report Post »Mitchm999
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 9:47pmBoo hoo. Christians are so oppressed. Boo hoo.
Report Post »shakenbake
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 9:58pmEver heard of time the courts ruled against the Islamic faith? I haven’t.
Report Post »Vernon Black
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 10:26pmWait until Alpha Delta Phi (Oldest Women’s Sorority) at Wesleyan College is FORCED to be led by a Tranny Christian convert Jihadist Muslim….They will be squealing like little GIRLS!
Report Post »TheCurator
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 2:15amNo mitchm999, we are not the oppressed. However, we ARE the MANY! And the MANY of us will now proceed to join, in mass, the athiest groups made up by the FEW. And those groups will have no recourse. They will suddenly find themselves, wherever they constitute, to have grown suddenly by factors of ten, resulting in a hostile majority that then controls the agenda. And this won’t stop with religious groups. This wonderful, Supreme Court-approved method of infiltrating leftist groups in any environment that is federally subsidized can be applied in many settings. By our sheer majority numbers, subversive and obnoxious foci of leftwing instigators can be diluted into oblivion and thereby into literal insignificance. The Court’s action here has bred no less than a fatal vulnerability in a central tactic of the left. So I ask you fellow American citizens. Let us become their members. Let us become their leaders. Let us take over and remap their agendas so as to benefit, not harm, our country. The federal government’s farcical shield of victimhood and political correctness is finally to be lifted, and America will be liberated to reveal its exceptional greatness once again. Remember, your acceptance into these groups, at all levels including leadership, is legally compelling and unavoidable by current members. Our power is in our numbers, and that power has just been unleashed. Use it. This is a huge advantage for the conservative MAJORITY in America. Finally.
Report Post »tricia
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 9:33pmI want someone to ask these justices HOW does anti discrimination laws trump the 1st Amendment that our country was founded on? The Freedom of Religion amendment puts restrictions on our government, not individuals, they have turned the law upside down. Individuals also have a right to associations.
Report Post »It’s becoming increasingly clear that our government is at war with any religion but islam. Muslims have rights because they have a religion, culture and race but Christians they’re just the Body of Christ (His Church on earth). The persecution of His church has come to America. International Laws are accepted by our courts, sharia laws are considered and individual freedoms taken away. Tyranny?
Git-R-Done
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 12:19amAnti-discrimination laws never trump the first amendment.
Report Post »Mary Just
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 9:12pmSure is a crooked corrupt country full of cowards.
The 5 judges that allowed this to happen are supremely corrupt
Report Post »mathwonk
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 9:11pmrick santorum circa 2008-
“Republicans, I think to our credit have sort of morphed away from the Goldwater idea that the really government just needs to be smaller, it needs to do less, it needs to be doing nothing except what its core functions are, to a party by and large that says look, we need to restructure the way we do programs or the way the government functions to actually create the kind of incentives or create the kind of help and programs that give that authority… I mean power to solve these problems to folks closer to people or to the family or to the individual themselves.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-WezrKqUBQ&feature=player_embedded
Report Post »mathwonk
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 9:18pmrick santorum relating his political ideology to compassionate conservatism (ala gw bush)-
“I suspect some will dismiss my ideas as just an extended version of ‘compassionate conservatism.’ Some will reject what I have said as a kind of ‘Big Government Conservatism.’ Some will say that what I’ve tried to argue isn’t conservatism at all. But I believe what I’ve been presenting is the genuine conservatism our Founders envisioned. One that fosters the opportunity for all Americans to live as we are called to live, in selfless families that contribute to the general welfare, the common good.”
Report Post »Dougral Supports Israel
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:57pmChristian groups should approach local churches to obtain meeting space so they can run their meetings off campus. They could advertise via social media and bypass all campus restrictions.
Report Post »SacredHonor1776
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 9:05pmAmen…
Report Post »tricia
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 9:37pmRight, sit down and shut up. Why are you Christians out of the church, don’t you know your place. Get back to your congregations and don’t be mixing that religious life with your college life.
Report Post »deeberj
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 11:15amI agree this is a way around the what the college has decided. The club should not be disbanded because the college is bigoted against Christians.
I also think the Christians need to go to other club meetings (like LGBT, Muslim, or men going to women’s groups and vice versa) and then raise a stink when they aren’t allowed in or are not allowed to hold leadership positions. Every club excludes someone. It is the nature of a club. The college is stupid to start this slippery slope, and the weak-spined Supreme Court should have heard this as it is a constitutional question.
Report Post »Harold B
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:42pmAs a conservative evangelical Christian male perhaps I should join the black lesbian sorority to prove that I am open minded, LOL an open mind is a trash can that people throw garbage into
Report Post »Git-R-Done
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 12:24amThese left wing hypocrites believe that some groups of people are more equal than others.
Report Post »bigmel754
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:39pmRight now pack up all your members and transfer to a school that honors you rights! Cut the money belt away from them and show them as the Christian haters that they are! The courts rulings will never change until you get justices that are not one sided and prejudice themselves! To understand the USA law you need to first read and understand the USA Constitution!
Report Post »Harold B
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:34pmJudge Kagan will one day face God as Judge and will be unable to appeal and/or corrupt the verdict
Report Post »abbygirl1994
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:34pmEven our Supreme Court is rotten to the core!! Eil lurks thoughout all of our government.. Lets make a change come November.. vote the worse President we have ever seen out of our White House and send him back to Indonesia or Afica.. wherever the hell he came from! God help us all!
Report Post »randy
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:47pmThat’s why everything is coming fast and furious by this corrupt administration. They know they have everyones support. Even the supreme court.
Report Post »rgdaguanno
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:33pmnot a surprise in this day. our courts are corrupt and do not follow the only law that which is derived from the constitution.
Report Post »Smokey_Bojangles
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:32pmCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF….What is so damn hard about that? That is my ONLY problem with gay marriage.Churches will be charged with Hate crimes because they do not want to perform a ceremony involving gays,Vaseline,Chaps, and men in their under wear.I hope some Christian Infiltrates the Muslim group and brings a Bacon Sandwich with them to every meeting.
Report Post »Findalis
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:30pmHere’s a unique idea:
Have the Christians join the Muslim Students Union in great numbers.
Vote themselves in charge of the chapter.
Force the Muslims to convert to Christianity.
Watch the fireworks!
Report Post »MammalOne
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:35pm“Force the Muslims to convert to Christianity”
I feel like this happened once before. Spanish Inqui- something…
Report Post »Git-R-Done
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 12:15amMammalone – Even the Spanish Inquisition was tame compared to what the Muslims have done to other non-Muslims throughout history. Sounds like you’re just bigoted against Christianity, which is normal for a social liberal.
Report Post »MammalOne
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 9:39amGITRDONE
Report Post »Biased against christianity? I’m biased against anyone who kills anyone else in the name of their religion. You really think I‘m ok with the killing that’s gone on under Islam?
Social liberal? lol. Is that the new name for libertarian?
MammalOne
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:27pmBut what’s christianity without discriminating based on religion, gender, and sexual orientation?
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:32pmLambda, Lambda, Lambda. (snort, snort)
Report Post »Git-R-Done
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 12:13amLiving our lives as we see fit. Not as how you social liberals see fit. Stop trying to shove your version of morality down my throat.
Report Post »MammalOne
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 9:41amIronic you would say that. You should tell Rick Santorum we don’t want him shoving his version of morality down our throats as well. Ban pornography? We’ve got bigger fish to fry.
Report Post »tbeachhead
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 10:35amDespite he egregious bigotry of your question, let me attempt a reasonable reply: Christianity is merely Man’s meagre attempt, sometimes admirable, too often inadequate, to respond to a Love so powerful that it gave that which was Most Precious to restore us to the intimate fellowship with Him for which we were designed, and which we willingly and deliberately spurned in the ignorance and pride demonstrated in your question, of which we all are guilty. The undeniable and historic proof of this assertion is given in a Man, Jesus of Nazareth, who died at the hands of pride and selfishness, and rose again from the dead…the one Man in history who can boast, though it was never robbed, an empty tomb.
Report Post »Chuck Stein
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:27pm“CSU denies official recognition and funding to student organizations that discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, national origin and sexual orientation.” Really? There are no race-based groups like La Raza? Sure, I believe that —- not!
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:22pmThe Government should not Rule upon… Religions… Pro nor Con!
Report Post »SpeckledPup
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:21pmsimple, when it comes introduction hazing time, make sure the atheists and muslims [who are trying to crash and DESTROY the college Christian societies] get the same treatment as everyone else… make sure the vile atheists go to church and learn prayers by heart, properly and have to recite them all day and night, and make sure those filthy muslims eat 7 courses of PORK with every meal and have to sleep with dogs..
Report Post »MammalOne
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:28pmI have a sneaking suspicion you didn’t have a happy childhoood growing up.
Report Post »toto
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 9:32pmGood idea, pork at all meals in some cases, prayers in the Christian sites, etc, etc. Always more than one way to skin a cat. Just so sad that the animosity created will be so much worse than if they had just left things alone and let those that want to come together do so within their own self set limits.
Report Post »Git-R-Done
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 12:19amMammalone – I suspect that you had a miserable childhood and that you’re a bigot against Christians and you want to thought police them.
Report Post »kentuckypatriot
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:20pmThe lib supreme court. Who’d a thunk? I’m curious who voted for and against. I bet dollars to donuts all the conservative justices did not vote for this.
Report Post »Chuck Stein
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:30pmWhen the Supreme Court “turns down” an appeal that means that the Petition for Certiorari was denied. It takes 4 votes to get the petition accepted. The Court did not rule on the merits of the case — they just exercised their discretion to not hear it.
Report Post »babylonvi
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 12:10amActually, right now(until Barry gets re-elected) there is a conservative majority on the court, so you‘er line doesn’t fly.
Report Post »