The University of California system sometimes refuses to give credits for high school classes where textbooks have a Christian viewpoint, and at least one Christian college is fighting mad about that:
The Calvary Chapel Christian School of Murrieta, Calif., with 1,300 students, is suing UC for not giving credits for some courses with a "Christian viewpoint" when students apply for university admission. The lawsuit is about theological content in "every major area in high school except for mathematics," says Wendell Bird, a lawyer for Calvary Chapel.Courses in dispute include history, English, social studies and science. In federal court here, U.S. District Judge S. James Otero could rule soon on the university system's motion to dismiss the high school's claims that its First Amendment rights to free speech and religion were infringed. The school has also sued on other grounds, such as that UC has unconstitutionally treated Calvary students unequally compared to other students...
The university rejected some class credits because Calvary Chapel relies on textbooks from leading Christian publishers, Bob Jones University Press and A Beka Book. A biology book from Bob Jones University presents creationism and intelligent design alongside evolution. The introduction says, "The people who have prepared this book have tried consistently to put the Word of God first and science second." UC says such books would be acceptable as supplementary reading but not as the main textbook.
Well, for that kind of thing, I see UC's point. If a science textbook explicitly states that science may be a secondary concern for some of the topics, it seems that a university may not want to give a science credit for a course with this textbook as the main source of information.
However, I do see some problems here:
(1) Is UC willing to do the same for other types of schools? Are they willing to deny credit for someone who may have learned world history from the Muslim perspective? And is UC willing to do the same for bad textbooks whose problems don't stem from a religious viewpoint? If not, then this seems more like Christian-bashing, and that's what CCCS is alleging:
The lawsuit against UC alleges that the university accepts courses from other schools taught from a particular viewpoint, such as feminist, African-American or countercultural, so the school can't discriminate against "a viewpoint of religious faith."
(2) Is this the start of a slippery slope, where the next thing is to refuse credit for all courses taught at religious schools, even if the text is acceptable?
(3) What about homeschooled students whose parents focus on Christianity?
Posted by kswygert at January 13, 2006 10:37 AM