Student's aid pulled due to theology major

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Thursday, February 6, 2003

[JohnHuang2]

A junior at Ave Maria College has filed a federal lawsuit against government officials after they yanked her from a state scholarship program because she declared theology as her major.

Teresa M. Becker, a student at the Ypsilanti, Mich., school, has received financial aid from the Michigan's Competitive Scholarship Program for the past two years, according to a statement from the Thomas More Law Center, which is helping the woman in her legal challenge. A state statute expressly prohibits distribution of scholarship funds to students who major in "theology, divinity or religious education."

The lawsuit, the statement said, targets Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the state officials who administer the scholarship program. It seeks to have a federal court declare the policy unconstitutional. If the suit succeeds, says the law center, Michigan will be barred from denying students competitive scholarships based on their choice of an undergraduate major.

"The First Amendment was designed to prevent government from discriminating against citizens based on their religious activity and speech," said Patrick Gillen, the law center's attorney handling the case, in the statement. "Michigan's decision to strip students of competitive scholarship funds if they choose to major in theology turns the First Amendment on its head and makes the State the enemy of religion."

Richard Thompson, chief counsel for the Thomas More Center, added, "The state needs a lesson in American history. Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 27 had the equivalent of a seminarian degree. This law is evidence of the state's ignorance of the role religion has played in our nation's history and its blatant hostility toward religious students."

Becker qualified for the scholarship based on academic achievement in high school, receiving assistance in her freshman and sophomore years – before declaring theology as her major.

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[JohnHuang2]

Thursday, February 6, 2003

Quote of the Day by cubreporter

[sticker]

But theology has to be a real course and a hard one. After all the smartest kid in the class, I invented everthing al gore flunked out of it at Vanderbilt.

[FreePaul]

But theology has to be a real course and a hard one.

Yes but that is only one way to get ahead in religion. Another, and certainly easier, is to be a black scam artist. You can then get government grants in order to conduct extortion against businesses.

[yendu bwam]

There is no doubt that the powers that be in this country (and particularly the Supreme Court) have conspired over the last century to divorce government from religion. There is absolutely nothing in our country's consitution to mitigate toward such a radical view. Those who are religious need to fight for our rights in this country to express our views freely, to organize freely, to teach our kids as we see fit with respect to our religious views, to practice freely, and to expect that our government will be supportive of those rights.

[FreeTally]

I could have sworn there were FEderal court decisions saying that scholarship money couldn't be denied on the basis of a major having to do with religion. This has been brought up in "School voucher" discussions.

[nickcarraway]

ping