By Jim Brown
July 13, 2006

(AgapePress) - A constitutional attorney is hailing a federal court decision that forces Southern Illinois University to recognize a Christian student group. SIU had denied official recognition to the campus Christian Legal Society, arguing the group violated the university's affirmative action and nondiscrimination policies because it limited its membership to Christians.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled, however, that the Christian Legal Society (CLS) chapter is likely to succeed in district court with its lawsuit alleging SIU violated the group's free-speech rights. The court also ruled that the student organization's requirement that its members abstain from extramarital sex is not discriminatory.

Attorney Brian Fahling of the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy (AFA Law Center) takes the position that SIU was engaging in viewpoint discrimination. He says the university is "punishing" the Christian Legal Society because it identified behavior and belief as being barriers to entry into its membership.

But Fahling argues, "If you force the Christian Legal Society to accept people who disagree with its tenets, then you've effectively eviscerated that membership in that particular club." And while that is problematic all by itself, he asserts, the administration also unfairly singled out the Christian group for discriminatory treatment.

"Interestingly enough," the pro-family attorney notes, "there's a bunch of clubs at SIU that do have discriminatory characteristics, and not inappropriate ones -- women's clubs, for instance, that just admit women, surprisingly enough; or Hispanic clubs that just admit Hispanics, surprisingly enough." Such groups' decision to define themselves through certain exclusions is appropriate, he contends, "because it preserves the character of those particular groups."

On the other hand, Fahling contends, to force groups to admit into membership those who do not subscribe to their beliefs or share their commitments and values deprives them of their identity and their freedom of association. "To require, for instance, a women's group to accept men," he says, "would defeat the very purpose of the group."

The Christian Legal Society has chapters in more than 1,100 cities across the United States. Fahling is commending the 7th Circuit for its ruling, which orders Southern Illinois University to grant the Christian group official student organization status.

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