Last week I commented upon a recent Supreme Court decision that supports the requirement of Hastings College of Law that all student groups be open to “all comers.” This means, in particular, that the Christian Legal Society chapter at Hastings cannot be recognized or receive any support from the school because it requires its members and officers to be orthodox Christians and to live according to biblical morality. In my post from last Wednesday, I worried about the broader implications of the Court’s ruling. It seems to me that religious liberty has taken a serious hit.

Alec Hill, the president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, one of our nation’s largest on-campus Christian organizations, shares my concern. In an article in The Christian Post, Hill comments:

“I hate the idea that InterVarsity and other religious groups may
become second-class citizens who really aren’t part of the ‘in’ group,
if you will, of the recognized student groups,” he told The Christian
Post Wednesday.

“It’s a significant statement of role shifts of who’s in and who’s
out. Evangelical groups are out,” he lamented. “To me, it seems just
wrong-headed.”

“It’s a bit nonsensical because in theory it waters down all the
distinctives of any group whatsoever and makes them all homogeneous,”
Hill commented. “This decision requires a Democratic Student group to
accept Republicans as leaders. Or a Muslim group to have Orthodox Jews
as leaders. Or the Sierra Club to have leaders who deny global warming.”

It will be interesting to see how colleges and universities respond to the Supreme Court ruling. I expect, along with Hill, that we’ll see more limitations of Christian groups. And, I expect that these limitations will not be applied equally to all student groups. I hope I’m wrong in both instances, but I am not hopeful.