Posted on 08/12/2008 6:49:07 PM PDT by SmithL
SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge says the University of California can deny course credit to applicants from Christian high schools whose textbooks declare the Bible infallible and reject evolution.
Rejecting claims of religious discrimination and stifling of free expression, U.S. District Judge James Otero of Los Angeles said UC's review committees cited legitimate reasons for rejecting the texts - not because they contained religious viewpoints, but because they omitted important topics in science and history and failed to teach critical thinking.
Otero's ruling Friday, which focused on specific courses and texts, followed his decision in March that found no anti-religious bias in the university's system of reviewing high school classes. Now that the lawsuit has been dismissed, a group of Christian schools has appealed Otero's rulings to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
"It appears the UC is attempting to secularize private religious schools," attorney Jennifer Monk of Advocates for Faith and Freedom said today. Her clients include the Association of Christian Schools International, two Southern California high schools and several students.
Charles Robinson, the university's vice president for legal affairs, said the ruling "confirms that UC may apply the same admissions standards to all students and to all high schools without regard to their religious affiliations." What the plaintiffs seek, he said, is a "religious exemption from regular admissions standards."
The suit, filed in 2005, challenged UC's review of high school courses taken by would-be applicants to the 10-campus system. Most students qualify by taking an approved set of college preparatory classes; students whose courses lack UC approval can remain eligible by scoring well in those subjects on the Scholastic Assessment Test.
Christian schools in the suit accused the university of rejecting courses that include any religious viewpoint, "any instance of God's guidance
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
more discrimination of religion for christians while we embrace muslim beliefs and sharia law.
we are being primed.
Wonder if Otero believes in hell?
Seems to me to exlude religious thought or teaching is discrimination that is anti the First Ammendment.
Translation: Otero has never had to actually work for a living.
Meanwhile, the public schools do this, but their courses are accepted.
There will be a lot of “critical thinking” in hell.
A Christian text that thoroughly covered evolution ought to be allowed. However, it is silly to say someone is fully qualified to take college level biology without a working knowledge of evolution. If the text leaves it out, then the university is RIGHT to reject the school’s qualification.
thread.
I’m assuming that textbooks cover a whole lot more than the appearance and change of life forms.
If it is 10% of a textbook (which it isn’t), then these students would get 10% of the answers wrong. That leaves them with 90% of THAT subject. And it is only 1 of many subjects which aren’t affected at all by this issue.
They should not be denied a college education because someone questions 10% or less of their education in one small area of one subject.
Is UC state or private.
if state then there is a state obstructing the free exercise clause of the first amendment not to mention Calif. constitution.
So judges are now experts on writing textbooks and declaring what content is and is not allowed?
incredible.
Is that clause still in there? I thought it was deleted from the Living Constitution long ago. I read every question from BHO's final exams in his Constitutional Law course, and it was never mentioned.
What about people who believe in modern mathematics and probability theory (which evolutionism is incompatible with)? They gonna deny them access to UC too?
Extra credit would be given to the applicant coming from a muzzie high school.
UC is the public university system of the state of California. It is enormous, probably the largest system in the country, with many separate schools: UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, and on and on.
there’s a reason why people who promote evolution are also in favor of whole language and Everyday Math...
Almost every private Christian school teaches Evolution alongside Creationism (something the public schools could adapt?). Most private Christian schools realize that a strong knowledge of Evolution is needed to succeed in any secular collage. As a consequence, most Christian primary and secondary students know more about Evolution than their counterparts in public schools, they just know how to discern the difference, based on their Christian beliefs. ;-)
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