U.W. Madison Discriminates Against Catholic Group

Sometimes the issue of "separation of church and state" get a bit confused in today's world. While there no such phrase in our Constitution, one interpretation of it can be an accurate description of one intent of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: the federal government may not establish a national religion. There are some who think that is the extent of the meaning, which I have spoken about many times on this venue.

Despite such confusion, some of the cases that come before courts are still baffling, especially in view of fairly clear guidance from recent Supreme Court decisions. Just last year a court instructed the University of Wisconsin, Madison, to stop discriminating against the Roman Catholic Federation. The U has many diverse, officially-recognized student groups on campus, but they denied such status to the RCF because it is a religious group. The Supreme Court has already established the (logical) principle that if a school supports activities on campus it may not exclude a group solely on the basis of religion.

In this story, a Federal judge has ordered the U not to discriminate against the RCF while the case winds its way through the courts. Until that order, the school was not recognizing the group because the group was in violation of a school "non-discrimination policy." Yet enforcement of this policy flies in the face of the principle of freedom of association, which court have established as part of the liberty we possess as a basic right. In addition, the First Amendment clearly says government may not interfere with freedom of religion.

Read more about the case here:

ADF Website