Permit To Share Faith? Court Ends U.S. University Policy Requring Permit Before Sharing Faith
ByNorth Carolina court headed by James Denver, District Judge reportedly ended North Carolina State University's policy requiring Christian student groups to secure a permit before exercising any form of sharing their faith to any student in the campus.
The order was issued months after Grace Christian Life, a registered religious student group at the NC State University filed a lawsuit against the university administration. The lawsuit stated that Grace's freedom to join in religious expression have been suppressed because of fear of punishment.
The suit further stated that the policy violated the right of the student group to exercise the First Amendment's freedom of speech and to exercise religion.
The university administration on the other hand accepted the court decision.
Tyson Langhofer, Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel said that they welcome the court's decision to stop the NC State's policy as he believes that the First Amendment is the only permit required for free speech in a public university, Christian Today reported.
It was reported that in September 2015, the North Carolina State University ordered Grace to stop approaching students inside the campus unless they secured a permit.
Seeing the other students and student group activity's ability not being restricted from engaging in expressive activities, Alliance Defending Freedom allegedly believed that Grace Christian Life has been singled out.
The order came out when one University official sent an email to another Christian club concerned official. The email talks about a certain "Tommy," who allegedly solicits around the campus, opens a conversation about religion and ends up giving the students a card.
Grace Christian Life is a member of the Chaplain's Cooperative Ministry, an independent organization supporting individual campus ministries partnering with the university. But, after a meeting between the CCM and university official about the policy; the NC cut off its relationship with CCM in November 2015, Fox News reported.
