CHRISTIAN LAWYERS GROUP URGES COURT TO TAKE SCOUT FREEDOM CASE
Representing
organizations with over 800 student chapters at public universities and
colleges nationwide, the Christian Legal Society today filed a “friend of the
Court” brief urging the United States Supreme Court to decide whether the
government may penalize the Boy Scouts of America for exercising its First
Amendment right to choose its leaders. The case, styled Boy Scouts of
America v. Wyman, could have important ramifications for the right of
religious organizations to choose their leaders free from government
interference.
Specifically, the
State of Connecticut banned the Boy Scouts from its state employees’
charitable giving campaign simply because the Boy Scouts refuses to allow
self-identified homosexual persons to serve as Scout leaders. The Scouts
had participated in the Connecticut campaign for over 30 years. In recent
years, over 900 different organizations, including homosexual advocacy
groups, took part in the campaign. Connecticut claims it would violate
state laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation if
it allowed the Boy Scouts to participate in the campaign..
In its
landmark decision, Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, 530 U.S. 640 (2000), the
United States Supreme Court ruled that Boy Scouts have a First Amendment
right to choose its leaders, including the right not to allow homosexual
persons to serve as leaders. Despite the Supreme Court’s decision, the
federal Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (covering New York,
Connecticut, and Vermont) ruled that the government could penalize the Boy
Scouts for exercising its First Amendment right to select its leaders.
According
to the Christian Legal Society’s brief, the Second Circuit’s decision will
exacerbate a recurrent problem on public university campuses nationwide.
Relying on university policies prohibiting religious and sexual orientation
discrimination, many university officials have denied student religious
groups access to meeting space and student activity funding because the
organizations require their officers to affirm their statements of faith and
standards for conduct, including sexual conduct. Essentially, the
university officials are denying religious groups the right to be
religious.
“The
Christian Legal Society hopes that an increasing number of universities
recognize that diversity on campus is hindered, not helped, by requiring all
student groups to march in lock step with poorly drafted non-discrimination
policies,” said Gregory S. Baylor, Director of the Center for Law and
Religious Freedom of the Christian Legal Society.
Joining the
Christian Legal Society brief were the National Association of Evangelicals and
the following national student ministries: Campus Crusade for Christ
International, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, Christian Medical and
Dental Association, and ReJOYce in Jesus Campus Fellowship. A decision on the
Scouts’ request that the Court take the case is expected in March 2004.
Christian Legal Society, a 42 year-old nationwide association
of Christian attorneys, law students, law professors, and judges,
established the Center for Law and Religious Freedom in 1975. The
Center is among the most respected voices in the religious liberty
arena.
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