Judge issues order in Christian students' fight with university

(Image courtesy Unsplash)
(Image courtesy Unsplash)

A federal judge has ruled that the University of Idaho likely unlawfully restrained a Christian group’s First Amendment rights when the school issued a “limited-contact” order keeping members of the Christian group from speaking to an LGBT student.

That student, a woman, had complained the group made her feel unsafe when she confronted them and challenged their biblical beliefs regarding same-sex marriage.

The case involved students Peter Perlot, Mark Miller, Ryan Alexander and professor Richard Seamon and was against University of Idaho chief C. Scott Green and a number of other college officials include Blaine Eckles, Erin Agidius and Lindsay Ewan.

The decision, from Judge David C. Nye of the federal court in Idaho, granted the students a preliminary injunction against the school, and several other procedural requests.

“Some may disagree with plaintiffs’ religious beliefs,” the judge wrote. “Such is each person’s prerogative and right. But none should disagree that plaintiffs have a right to express their religious beliefs without fear of retribution. The Constitution makes that clear.”

The judge said the fight involved freedom of speech, freedom of religion and equal protection.

He pointed out, quoting “various” scholars, the “right to swing your arms ends just where the other man’s nose begins.”

“The Constitution is a shield to protect one’s fundamental inalienable rights. It is not a sword to hew down the fundamental inalienable rights of others. For instance, one cannot hide behind their constitutional right to free speech in order to shout ‘fire’ in a crowded church to stop others from exercising their constitutional right to freedom of religion.”

The judge said while universities need to protect students who fret about “harassment,” they “also owe a duty to those accused of the conduct – particularly where, as here, the alleged conduct giving rise to the purported harassment is protected speech.”

The students filed a complaint several months ago challenging the school’s “no-contact orders against them,” a ruling that apparently violated their constitutional rights.

The situation developed after the school held a “moment of community” following an anti-LGBT slur that was left on a classroom whiteboard.

The plaintiffs, members of the school’s Christian Legal Society, were present.

They gathered in prayer to support those concerned.

“After the prayer concluded, Jane Doe (the student) approached the group and asked those present why the CLS constitution affirms that marriage is between one man and one woman,” the judge noted.

Miller explained that is the traditional biblical view.

When the female student claimed the Bible doesn’t say that, Miller explained further about what the Bible does teach.

Another plaintiff then left a message for her offering to further discuss the dispute.

The female student then went public with her complaint that the CLS held beliefs that were “bigoted and anti-LGBT.”

And the school responded with its “no-contact” order, which the school attempted to apply on and off campus, and allowed to continue perpetually.

The school then refused the students’ attempts to resolve the issue without a lawsuit.

The judge said it appears highly likely that plaintiffs can show the school “violated the First Amendment by issuing the no-contact orders based on the content and viewpoint of their speech. … Surely issuing no-contact orders left and right for speech that is viewed more or less favorably by one party is not the least-restrictive means of protecting everyone involved.”

IMPORTANT NOTE: America’s innocent young children are shockingly being subject to massive recruitment efforts by LGBT and transgender groomers in the nation’s schools. Alongside this, the rest of the deranged Biden agenda continues to unfold, from engineering an ever-growing full-scale foreign invasion of America, to destroying the nation’s fossil fuel industries while purposely creating sky-high inflation, to bringing America to the brink of nuclear war. Now, the very same political, cultural and sexual revolutionaries responsible for all of this chaos and madness have finally dared to “come out” and publicly identify exactly who they consider to be their biggest enemy: CHRISTIANS. That’s right. Bible-believing, Judeo-Christian morals-affirming Christian believers – the kind who founded America, wrote her Constitution, and defended her with their lives for centuries – are now considered the biggest enemy threatening the future of America! This almost unbelievable trend is documented in the stunning June 2022 issue of WND’s critically acclaimed Whistleblower magazine (available in both print and digital editions), titled “ELITES FINALLY REVEAL THEIR #1 ENEMY: CHRISTIANS.”

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This article was originally published by the WND News Center.

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