Christian students attending a public college in New York have sued after they were told they must accept non-Christians as leaders in their ministry organisation.
The lawsuit was filed in August by Becket, a religious liberty law firm, on behalf of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, an evangelical Christian student organisation. The suit alleges that the group was rejected from official recognition at SUNY Broome Community College because it would not allow non-Christians to serve as leaders.
“InterVarsity exists to help students know Jesus, grow in their faith, and build friendships that will last a lifetime,” said Jake Sonner, a member of InterVarsity Broome, in a press release published by Becket.
He continued: “Everyone is welcome. You don’t have to be a Christian to walk through our door. We just ask that students who lead our prayers and worship actually share the faith they are helping others live out. A public college shouldn’t exclude us for that.”
The suit claims that InterVarsity Christian Fellowship has a right to ensure that its leaders are Christians, and that it should be recognised as an official campus club at the college. Being recognised as an official student organisation means that a group can rent meeting spaces, recruit other students at involvement fairs and receive student activity funding.
Under InterVarsity’s policies, anyone – of any religion – is allowed to join and attend events and meetings. Its leaders, however, must be professing Christians.
During the club recognition process, InterVarsity was denied recognition by SUNY Broome officials because of this requirement, said Becket. While it was acceptable for InterVarsity to have a statement of faith in its official club constitution, it could not require student leaders to actually believe it.
InterVarsity has successfully defended this policy in court on two separate occasions.
“Telling InterVarsity it can’t have Christian leaders is like telling a Yankees fan club that it has to let a Red Sox fan be president,” said Colten Stanberry, counsel at Becket and lead attorney for InterVarsity, in a press release.
“It’s nonsense, and it leaves New York students worse off. The First Amendment doesn’t let a public college pick the leaders of a religious ministry. We’re confident the court will agree.”
