Score one for universities

[velvetpage]

A U.S. court upheld the expulsion of a counselling student who could not reconcile her religious belief that being gay was immoral with her ethical requirement to counsel anyone who needed her help. There's at least one similar case elsewhere in the country, and if it gets decided differently, the matter could very conceivably go to the Supreme Court.

Kudos to cereta for this one.

Comments

[zorinlynx.livejournal.com]

This is awesome.

People need to learn that religious beliefs are not a valid justification for hate.

[ankh-f-n-khonsu.livejournal.com]

Agreed. She shouldn't be granted that responsibility - or privilege.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I have to wonder what she was doing in that program to begin with. There are private Christian universities that offer parallel courses in Christian counselling. Was she trying to get secular accreditation so as to undermine the secular organization later on? Christian pharmacists have been doing it for decades - why not Christian counsellors?

[amyura.livejournal.com]

Could be the price. Or could be a misguided attempt at evangelizing an unsuspecting public?

[kisekileia.livejournal.com]

Wow. I'm impressed that that ruling was made in the U.S. I really hope it stands. Unfortunately, the student will most likely be able to find a program at a "Christian university" that lets her get some sort of counseling credential while refusing to work with gay clients.

[amyura.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but most of those places aren't accredited and wouldn't be accepted by a public school.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

So long as she's not then able to gain standing within the secular institution as well, thereby undermining it, I'm perfectly okay with that.

[amyura.livejournal.com]

I'm happy by the ruling, but dubious that it will withstand a challenge up to the Supreme Court. Right now the balance is 4-1-4 (from left to right), and it always comes down, on contentious issues, to What Will Anthony Kennedy Do? But Stevens, the most liberal justice of the liberal wing, is retiring, and Kagan is anybody's guess. She's made several recent rulings that leaned more to the right.