MCT Campus

The U.S. government is on the verge of deciding how far it can extend its definition of discrimination. By this summer, any Christian student group could be labeled discriminatory if it refuses to allow anyone, including atheists, among its leadership ranks.

Last Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case of the Christian Legal Society, which has asked the UC Hastings College of the Law to recognize it as an official campus organization supported by school financing and other benefits, like all other student clubs.

Hastings refused to give the CLS public support because it claims it is discriminatory to require its voting members to sign a statement of faith, which allows them to exclude members if they show “unrepentant participation in or (advocate) a sexually immoral lifestyle.”

CLS allows any student from Hastings to join, but also uses this provision to ensure that the leadership of the organization remains dedicated to Christian principles. Hastings has barred the CLS from campus recognition for trying to uphold its Christian beliefs, stating that no recognized campus group may exclude people for their religious or sexual orientation.

Currently, Alpha Gamma Omega, the only Christian-based fraternity at San Diego State, faces a similar dilemma. As a Christ-centered fraternity, AGO’s membership is open to everyone, but it maintains a bylaw that requires its officers to sign a statement of faith. SDSU and the Interfraternity Council excludes it from the Greek community and council recognition for this reason.

Pushing political correctness cannot overrun religious liberty in this country. These policies violate the CLS and AGO’s rights to free speech and assembly and distort the entire purpose of separating church and state. The Founding Fathers included this provision to ensure that no particular religion was favored and that the law would respect all faiths. Christian student organizations are barred from public support because they want to uphold their core beliefs.

If the Supreme Court sides with Hastings, the government will grant itself the authority to ban not only Christian student groups, but all student groups from public institutions that ask their leadership to adhere to the principles the group itself was founded upon.

There is nothing unreasonable about requiring officers of a student group to maintain the core beliefs the organization promotes, regardless of whether they are religious-based or not.

Our country’s historical definition of “discrimination” and excluding people from groups for their beliefs are two fundamentally different concepts. Discrimination is judging a person and excluding them for their status or their legally recognized identity. Both the CLS and AGO grant anyone membership who wishes to explore the values and beliefs promoted by Christianity. By excluding non-Christians among their membership from officer positions, they ensure that the focus of their organizations remain dedicated to their founding purpose.

Excluding those who hold contradicting beliefs or values is a common practice every group uses to remain unified toward its objectives. The Christian religion asks its followers to ascribe to particular principles if they wish to be included in its community, so it is inherently exclusive on the basis of belief. If a community doesn’t hold its leadership accountable to the specific beliefs or goals that bound it together in the first place, then its unified objectives will either collapse or begin to fade. Bylaws such as these are crucial for holding generations of new members accountable to the organization’s original purpose.

AGO was originally founded at SDSU as a Christ-centered fraternity in 1979. Its Christian focus has survived more than 30 years with these bylaws, which barred it from support from the IFC and SDSU.

“We would like to be treated equally. It’s discriminatory for SDSU to have a policy like this,” Nick Davis, the president of AGO, said in response to this exclusionary practice. “We would like to be on the IFC.”

AGO should not give up its practices for this unjust exclusionary policy. An AGO chapter at UC Los Angeles is recognized without abandoning its requirement to sign a statement of faith, which it instilled after members of the fraternity attempted to make it secular in the “80s, according to members of AGO.

Christian organizations face a historical challenge that other minority cultural or religious organizations do not. According to a Pew Forum research study, 78.4 percent of American adults are Christian and Christianity is deeply ingrained into our society. Many people still identify themselves as nominally Christian even if they do not actively practice the religion or truly believe in it.

In the U.S., this is a rare phenomenon largely exclusive to Christianity. AGO does not want to become Christian only by name, stop practicing its religion, or become just another social fraternity. Its bylaw protects it from gradually giving up its dedication to its founding purpose and identity like so many other fraternities and sororities in our country already have.

We must legally respect all religions in this country. We defend the rights of those belonging to minority religions every day. Christians deserve the same protection. SDSU should include AGO on the IFC exactly how it is and start respecting religious liberties.

8212;Tom Hammel is a political science sophomore.

8212;This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec. Send e-mail to opinion@thedailyaztec.com. Anonymous letters will not be printed. Include your full name, major and year in school.