California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law yesterday, Senate Bill 1441, a bill that would potentially remove state assistance from organizations which stand-by religious beliefs deemed discriminatory towards homosexuals, bisexuals, transsexuals, and the like. The bill is being assailed by groups who say that the bill violates their first amendment rights by penalizing them for holding certain religious beliefs.
In a press release, the Sacramento-based Capitol Resource Institute pointed out that the bill, “will prevent parochial schools, such as private, Christian, Catholic, Mormon, and many other religious universities, from receiving student financial assistance if they also maintain a student code of conduct preventing behavior deemed immoral by their religious beliefs.”
There is little to no coverage of this in the secular press, even in California. I found this rather muddled article in a smaller paper. The article looks at the actual impact of this bill and the conclusions are difficult to tease out:
Colleges could be significantly affected because most of them accept students on state scholarships and grants, said Burt Carney, director for legal/legislative issues at the Association of Christian Schools International in Colorado Springs. The association has more than 800 members in California, including 26 colleges and universities.
Most private grammar and high schools don’t receive state funding, so they won’t be affected by the law, he said.
"I am personally advising any K-12 or post-secondary institution not to have anything to do with state funding because of this law," Carney said. "I think there is a huge threat to faith-based organizations."
However, officials at La Sierra, a Seventh-day Adventist college, Cal Baptist and Azusa Pacific University, an evangelical Christian college in Azusa, said they don’t believe their biblically based morals policies will be affected.
The article goes on to describe those policies, but then doesn’t have anyone elaborate as to why 1441 wouldn’t have an impact,
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