Christian Groups Sue UC Over Course Requirements

UC is being sued over alleged discriminatory practices against Christian private schools and their religiously based curricula.

The suit, filed last Thursday by the Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murrieta and the Association of Christian Schools International, an organization which represents almost 4,000 schools nationally, states UC is guilty of violating Christian school students' freedom of religion and association.

According to the complaint, five students from Calvary Chapel Christian School are unable to apply to UC schools despite a strong academic and extracurricular transcript because their coursework was considered too tinged by religion to fulfill university requirements.

According to the complaint, if these students applied to UC, they would be turned away because their courses do not fulfill the necessary requirements, particularly the laboratory science requirement.

"This is about a parent's right to direct their child's education, to be taught from a different viewpoint without discrimination from a state agency," said Robert Tyler, an attorney with Advocates for Faith and Freedom, who is serving as counsel for the plaintiffs.

But UC's stringent evaluation of coursework serves to ready students for their educational careers at a UC school and is not meant to be exclusionary, said UC spokesperson Ravi Poorsina.

"We have these requirements in place because we want to prepare students thoroughly for UC coursework," Poorsina said. "The purpose is to make sure that students are prepared."

Course information from Calvary Chapel Christian School indicated that the textbooks used in the students' classes are published by Bob Jones University Press and A Beka Book, two Christian publishers.

According to the complaint, the textbooks, which contain a Christian viewpoint on biotechnology, abortion, evolution and homosexuality, were considered unacceptable and not consistent with accepted viewpoints in the scientific community.

"UC has made it clear that it will reject any future course submissions with textbooks from these publishers. With that assertion, this case becomes a case of the future as well," Tyler said.

Tyler said that while UC has rejected courses with a strong Christian slant, the university has opted to accept course credit for classes dealing with other religions, such as Buddhism and Islam, making these actions discriminatory against students who study at Christian schools.

According to the complaint, UC has denied credit for courses including "Christianity's Influence in American History" and "Christianity and Morality in American Literature."

"UC has blatantly approved courses from many other religious and secular viewpoints, but for some reason it does not want the Christian viewpoint," Tyler said.

But Poorsina said the university's admissions criteria are not biased against any religious following.

"We value and respect students from all backgrounds, ethnic, socioeconomic and religious," Poorsina said. "But the course approval process is something that new courses at all schools have to deal with."

The case is currently awaiting review by UC lawyers.

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