November (Web-only) 2005

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A Southern California Christian high school sued the University of California (UC) in late August, accusing the ten-campus system of discriminating against the high school's students by not allowing certain courses taught from a Christian viewpoint to fulfill admission requirements.

Calvary Chapel Christian Schools (CCCS) in Murrieta claims that the university violated the students' First Amendment rights by rejecting the courses. The courses are "Christianity's Influence on American History," "Christianity and Morality in American Literature," and "Special Providence: American Government." Both the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) accredit CCCS.

Bob Jones University and A Beka Books publish the textbooks used for the courses. UC has approved other classes that use these publishers' textbooks, the university said in a statement, but faculty reviewing the books said these don't meet UC guidelines.

"The question the university must confront in reviewing these texts is not whether they have religious content," the university said, "but whether they provide a comprehensive view of the relevant subject matter, reflecting knowledge generally accepted in the scientific and educational communities and with which a student at the university level should be conversant."

For example, the university said it rejected the literature course for using an anthology as the only required text.

"It's not that we're not allowing a particular viewpoint," UC spokeswoman Ravi Poorsina said. "We're saying that we require certain disciplines that in these cases are not there."

But the school's lawsuit also says that in 2004, UC rejected some biology and physics textbooks because they ...