Americans United: Iowa SupremeCourtRulingOnMarriageUpholdsReligious Liberty, Says Americans United

[Steve Sanders]

Rick, I think a public university should help such a student by  
providing whatever counseling comports with the established  
professional norms and codes of practice of the relevant branch of the  
counseling profession.

Let's not forget that the Eastern Michigan case is apparently about a  
counseling student doing a practicum.  I assume (without making a  
judgment one way or the other about whether the defense is correct)  
that the defendant university will argue that its action against the  
Christian student was based on an educational judgment because it's  
trying (required?) to train its students according to the standards of  
the American Counseling Association.

Steve

Quoting Rick Duncan <nebraskalawprof at yahoo.com>:

> Steve, my guess is that ADF would not condemn a public
> university for respecting an "opt out" for an atheist counselor,
> so long as the University respected other religious conscience claims.
>
> To try to answer your more difficult hypo, the University should  
> protect both the
> conscience claim of the counselor and the right of the patient to  
> receive appropriate
> counseling. This is exactly why both Christian and atheist students  
> should be welcome
> in the counseling program. The more religious diversity you have  
> among counselors,
> the easier it is to accommodate everyone.
>
> But what do you do with the patient who comes in and says "I am  
> struggling with
> homosexual feelings and I want help overcoming these feelings. I am  
> a person of faith
> who wants to live in accordance with my faith." How should a public  
> university help this student?
>
> Rick Duncan
> Welpton Professor of Law
> University of Nebraska College of Law
> Lincoln, NE 68583-0902
>
>
>
>
>
>



_________________________________

Steve Sanders
E-mail:  stevesan at umich.edu
Web: http://www.stevesanders.net