College loses cool over Bible verses
'They claimed that to allow them would be a violation of the First Amendment'
Published: 14 hours ago
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A Colorado college lost its cool over a couple of Bible verses and now faces a legal challenge to its authority to censor the speech of a graduate, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom.
ADF said Thursday its lawyers filed a lawsuit after the Colorado School of Mines in Golden offered donors to an athletic facility the opportunity to put a message on a nameplate but rejected a donor’s request for a reference to a Bible verse.
“Public colleges and universities should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas, especially in a forum like this. The school initially imposed no restrictions – or even guidelines – on the type of message a donor could include, and contrary to what the school is arguing, the First Amendment protects – not restricts – a simple reference to a Bible verse,” said ADF Legal Counsel Natalie Decker.
“It’s patently ridiculous to argue that a Bible reference that doesn’t include the text of the verse is somehow inappropriate simply because someone might look it up and see that ‘Lord’ is mentioned there,” she said.
School officials declined to comment.
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ADF said the school offered to let donors to the new Clear Creek Athletics Complex dictate an inscription for a personalized nameplate that would be placed in the new football locker room.
Michael Lucas, who played defensive nose tackle for the school and graduated in 2003, made a $2,500 donation and requested “Colossians 3:23 and Micah 5:9.”
But the message was rejected by the school, the ADF lawsuit explained, because one of the Bible verses includes the word “Lord.”
“CSM officials objected because they said, after the fact, that nameplate quotes could not include the words ‘Lord,’ ‘God’ or ‘Jesus’ or make reference to Bible verses that contain those words. They claimed that to allow them would be a violation of the First Amendment,” ADF explained.
However, the lawyers noted that the First Amendment actually protects such speech.
Furthermore, the school’s official policy prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion.
“Give ‘Em Hell” and “Take your whiskey clear” were approved by the school.
“The United States Constitution prohibits the government from treating religion with hostility or from excessively entangling the government with religion,” said the complaint, Lucas v. Johnson, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
“The censorship of Mr. Lucas’ religious speech – while permitting similar, but nonreligious, private speech from other members of the public regarding the same and similar subject matters – also constitutes viewpoint discrimination, which is unconstitutional in any type of forum.”
Named as defendants are Mines President Paul Johnson, former President Myles Scoggins, the school’s trustees and others.
The civil rights complaint accuses the school of discriminating on the basis of religion.
Colossians 3:23, in the New International Version, says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”
And Micah 5:9 says, “Your hand will be lifted up in triumph over your enemies, and all your foes will be destroyed.”
School officials had told Lucas that whatever he put on the nameplate could not include, nor could it even reference, a verse with the words “God, “Lord” or “Jesus.”
They told him: “The U.S. Constitution and our university policy prohibiting unlawful discrimination are the bases for our not permitting biblical inscriptions on the lockers. As a state university, we must be very attentive to the separation of church and state, and avoid even the appearance of promoting or supporting one particular religion or set of religious beliefs over others.”
The school later changed its solicitation to let people know they could not use “religiously affiliated language.”
The case alleges the school violated the Free Exercise Clause and the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment as well as the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the 14th Amendment.
The case asks for an injunction preventing the school from enforcing its policy and ordering that the requested statements be allowed.
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