Posted on 11/19/2005 11:37:00 PM PST by nickcarraway
Cody Young is an evangelical Christian who attends a religious high school in Southern California. With stellar grades, competitive test scores and an impressive list of extracurricular activities, Mr. Young has mapped a future that includes studying engineering at the University of California and a career in the aerospace industry, his lawyers have said.
But Mr. Young, his teachers and his family fear his beliefs may hurt his chance to attend the university. They say the public university system, which has 10 campuses, discriminates against students from evangelical Christian schools, especially faith-based ones like Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murrieta, where Mr. Young is a senior.
Mr. Young, five other Calvary students, the school and the Association of Christian Schools International, which represents 4,000 religious schools, sued the University of California in the summer, accusing it of "viewpoint discrimination" and unfair admission standards that violate the free speech and religious rights of evangelical Christians.
The suit, scheduled for a hearing on Dec. 12 in Federal District Court in Los Angeles, says many of Calvary's best students are at a disadvantage when they apply to the university because admissions officials have refused to certify several of the school's courses on literature, history, social studies and science that use curriculums and textbooks with a Christian viewpoint.
The lawyer for the school, Robert Tyler, said reviewing and approving the course content was an intrusion into private education that amounted to government censorship. "They are trying to secularize private Christian schools," Mr. Tyler said. "They have taken God out of public schools. Now they want to do it at Christian schools."
A lawyer for the university, Christopher M. Patti, called the suit baseless. Acknowledging the university does not accept some courses,
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
GO FOR THE THROAT, WE MUST START FIGHTING LIBERALISM AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY BECAUSE THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT WHAT IS RIGHT...THINK ABOUT WHAT LIBERALISM HAS BROUGHT US SERIOUSLY!!
"Christianity in American History" becomes "Bath House - the Engine of Progress"
Faith and Science" becomes "Transgender Awareness"
and "Physical Education" becomes "Man-Boy Wrestling"
"GO FOR THE THROAT, WE MUST START FIGHTING LIBERALISM AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY BECAUSE THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT WHAT IS RIGHT...THINK ABOUT WHAT LIBERALISM HAS BROUGHT US SERIOUSLY!!"
I don't know the specific so maybe there is someanti-Christian bias at work in this particular case.
But in general - science is not liberalism and Christian schools should meet the same academic standards as other schools.
pingout tomorrow,
You gotta believe the average lefty admissions committee would shudder at the thought of admitting fundamentalist Christians into their select "Diversity University."
Is it possible that besides these credentials, the candidates are just duds?
I know many people with wonderful academic credentials that are throughly unimpressive in real life. The fact that a person is rejected doesn't mean they have been unfairly rejected.
Agreed the Creationism/Intelligence Design mythology is damaging the academic credibility of otherwise excellent Christian schools.
I recall an incident a couple of weeks ago. One of my TA's said, and I quote, "We should not be graduating any Creationist Geologists." Said TA then proceeded to say that anyone who got through the curriculum with Creationist beliefs should not be allowed to graduate with a degree because they obviously hadn't learned anything.
I'm not a New Earth Creationist, in fact I'm something of an agnostic, but I immediately thought "Diversity of Opinion, hahaha". Fun times.
"But in general - science is not liberalism and Christian schools should meet the same academic standards as other schools."
"Most of the nation’s hundreds of Christian colleges, with their rigorous academic standards, routinely outperform state universities.
Christian home schoolers win the national spelling bees year after year. In a 2003 article entitled God on the Quad, the Boston Globe described how well Christian Evangelical students are doing on New England’s liberal elite university campuses."
Quoted from Rabbi Daniel lapin in this recent post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1519058/posts
I went to a high school where all the teachers were required to state that they were born again. They had excellent academics - there does not need to be a conflict.
Except literature, history, and social studies with a Christian perspective are also being used as rejected courses.
Do SAT/ACT tests have questions about faith? If you do well on your tests, it shouldn't matter whether you believe in Jesus or Santa Claus. Plus if you do well on your tests, you can pretty much pick your college.
If a college rejects you because of your faith in Jesus, that would be great sign to go to a Christian college.
Maybe, I'm missing the point.
Sincerely
IF public colleges and universities are allowed to deny acceptance on the basis of faith, that might just lay the groundwork for step 2...... certain jobs can become off limits for the 4.0 grad of a Christian college. I know it's a stretch, but a few years ago, the idea of banning any talk of God in public schools, nativity displays in public places, removal of the Ten Commandments from courthouses, and lawsuits brought in the attempt to remove "In God we trust" from US currency was unheard of. Second class citizenry for Christians may not be that far behind.
It is a remarkable symbol of how low our culture has sunk to recall that--in Colonial times--the typical school in America was nearly identical to these "right-wing Christian" schools in terms of content taught to students.
Don't get me wrong....If a public college or university in America is denying enterance based on religious belief, that should be exposed and fought against.
However, my point is this...Study English, Math, Science, etc., and get good scores on your SAT/ACT's. This is what will get you into college/university.
I don't know the laws in California, but I believe that if you are a resident for a year, you are elligible to attend a California college/university. Maybe, California doesn't put much emphasis on SAT/ACT scores for in-state residents. This may have caused easier access to Cal. colleges/universities. Maybe there are Christian schools in California that are graduating kids with poor academic skills. I would bet, though, that liberal, atheistic loaded colleges, just want to keep the Christians out.
As far as jobs go...Grades are always secondary. If someone likes you or wants you, they will find a way to hire you. (The same goes for firing, if they don't like you...they'll find a way to get rid of you.) There are many people with bad grades that get hired because someone liked them. Plus, your kidding yourself if you don't already see the pressure of keeping quite about your Christian beliefs at work. In a effort to prevent a "hostile work environment", companies already quiet discussion about sin and God. This is getting greater as companies and society equate homosexuality to civil rights.
Sincerely
When the UC system stops giving credit for some of the ethnic studies courses taken by high school students, I will take this kind of argument seriously. Even if the Christian high-school courses have low academic value--and I don't know the answer to that one way or the other--the Univ. is engaging in viewpoint discrimination by giving credit for one second-rate course but denying credit for another.
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Oops.. you forgot the "or else" part. That's what's involved here, a mandatory standard with the UC as the approved reviewer about everything a child knows or thinks. If it becomes the standard of the UC now, it'll be the standard of every major University or College in five years.
You may not be too upset if these foolish, semi-literate Christian fundamentalists who believe in "intelligent design" and will simply not acknowlege the wisdom of their betters, get theirs. It's about time, right?
Well, what about teaching economics from a Marxist perspective? How about US history from a leftist, anti-Western perspective? How about a US history who defines Reagan, Bush, and other conservative Presidents as outlaws? If the UC can use "curriculim" to force secular-humanism down the throat of every child in California, why should they stop there?
Your pro-"evolution is the only science" bias is short sighted.
SFS
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