Can a Christian University have a law school?
The covenant and the courts: Inside a Christian university’s law school crusade | National Post
When Trinity, a private evangelical Christian institution, first proposed a faculty of education in 2000, the B.C. College of Teachers rejected its application: It argued that the university’s community covenant, which prohibits “sexual intimacy” outside of marriage between a man and a woman, impugned graduates’ qualifications to teach in the real world.
The following year the Supreme Court overturned that decision. Trinity’s faculty of education has since graduated more than 400 teachers.
Nonetheless, the community covenant is once again a matter for the country’s top judges — this time because of the university’s proposed law program. The law societies of both B.C. and Ontario have refused to accredit any future grads, arguing that Trinity’s governing values are in direct conflict with the Charter of Rights that lawyers are expected to uphold.
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“The very nature of religion in public life” is at stake, says Ray Pennings, executive vice-president of the Christian think tank Cardus — whether it’s “something totally personal (and) private,” or something that has at least some entrée into the “public space.” A ruling against Trinity would have “consequences for everyone in society,” he argues.
A Canadian case that may well be a harbinger of things to come elsewhere.
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