In a case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Christian Legal Society is fighting for its right to limit membership to Christians. The University of California’s Hastings College of the Law has denied the Christian Legal Society recognition as a campus student group because they require voting members to sign a statement of faith, and regard “unrepentant participation in or advocacy of a sexually immoral lifestyle” to be inconsistent with the statement of faith.
Hastings demands that no recognized campus groups may exclude people due to religious belief or sexual orientation. By including not only behavior, but belief as well, their position implies that Christian groups cannot require adherence to Christian beliefs for people to become voting members or to serve in leadership positions. Should Christian groups be required to give an atheist the right to become a Bible study leader? Are campus Christian groups forbidden from requiring those in leadership to hold to Christian beliefs or to enbrace a Christian code of conduct?
Most secular campus have similar non-discrimination policies. If those policies were rigorously enforced or if Christian groups on campus were challenged on these points many other campus fellowship groups might find themselves in a similar position.
Please pray for God to work in this court case. If the Christian Legal Society loses, we will be one step closer to the day when all campus Christian groups will be forced to choose between abandoning their Christian principles or leaving campus.