Feb 21, 2011 / 23:10 pm
After protests from a student group, the University of California at Davis has withdrawn a school policy that implied Christians were the only perpetrators of “religious discrimination” in the U.S.
The university's Office of Campus Relations issued a “Principles of Community Glossary” that defined “religious/spiritual discrimination” as “(t)he loss of power and privilege to those who do not practice the dominant culture’s religion. In the United States, this is institutionalized oppressions toward those who are not Christian.”
The Alliance Defense Fund – a Christian legal alliance – reported that affiliated attorney Timothy J. Swickard wrote the university on Feb. 16 on behalf of 25 students who found policy offensive. UC Davis responded the same day, stating that the student's concerns were noted and that the language was removed until further consideration.
In his letter to the school, Swickard argued that it was “patently clear” that UC Davis’s definition of religious discrimination was “blatantly unconstitutional” under both the Federal and California State Constitutions.