December 16, 2002
Court affirms religion major
___WASHINGTON (BP)--A federal appeals court has affirmed a victory for the religious rights of a Washington state college student.
___The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to review a July decision by three of its members that the state of Washington discriminated against religion when it withheld a scholarship to a student because he was seeking a theology degree. The request for a rehearing by the appeals court as a whole did not receive the votes necessary.
___The state could appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
___On Dec. 6, the American Center for Law and Justice filed suit in a similar case in Kentucky. In federal court in Lexington, the organization accused the state of Kentucky of religious discrimination in barring scholarships from being used by students who pursue religion degrees.
___Woods Nash, a junior at Cumberland College in Williamsburg, Ky., received funds under the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship during his first two years. After he chose to major in philosophy/religion in October, the state notified Nash it no longer would provide a scholarship because his decision on a major violated the program's rules.
___Cumberland College is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention.
___In the Washington state case, Joshua Davey received a Promise Scholarship in 1999 under a law passed the same year that established a program for low- and middle-income students who excel academically. Davey chose to use the $1,125 scholarship at Northwest College, an accredited Assemblies of God school in Kirkland, Wash. He chose a double major in pastoral ministries and business.
___In October of that year, the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board informed colleges in the state that students who seek a theology degree are not eligible for the scholarship. Northwest College decided a pastoral ministries major constituted a theology degree. Davey continued to major in pastoral ministries, thereby making his scholarship void, and sued the governor and the education board.
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