It is questionable whether this school had a legitimate basis to ban this Christian group from campus in the first place -- but to then impose further sanctions because the students engaged in legal First Amendment protected activity off campus reeks of an anti-Christian bias that must not be allowed to stand.

Today the National Litigation Foundation and the Alliance Defense Fund (representing a Christian student group called "Commissioned II Love") filed a lawsuit against Savannah State University in Georgia after the university expelled the group from campus. In one of the more bizarre cases of viewpoint discrimination that I've seen, the university first punished the group for "hazing" after the university discovered that group members voluntarily engaged in the ancient Christian practice of "foot washing." The practice sounds strange to some, but it is taken directly from one of Jesus' most famous acts and involves, well, literally washing (with soap and water) the feet of another member of the group as a symbolic act of humility, love, and service. The university construed this action as endangering the "physical health" of their students.

After suspending the group for "hazing" and "harassment" (yes, in the eyes of the university, students sharing their faith constitutes "harassment"), the university imposed the ultimate punishment — expulsion — when the group members had the audacity to go to an off-campus, weekend event together (a Christian music concert). In other words, the very act of collectively hanging out off campus was enough to impose the ultimate penalty on the group.

Excuse me -- college students going to a concert together is grounds for punishment? And I won't get into th foot-washing issue, which is absurd on its face. Will the campus Newman Center be the next group sanctioned, given that foot-washing is a part of the prescribed Catholic liturgy for Holy Thursday?

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Posted by: Greg at 01:21 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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