Christian Law Students Group Claims Discrimination

There's an article in yesterday's Missoulian about a "Christian Students" group and the UM Law School that's claiming they're being discriminated against by the school for not recognizing them as an official group. Why are they not recognized as an official group? Because they discriminate. These are law students who apparently don't understand the definition of the words irony or hipocrisy.

A group of Christian law students seeking to exclude homosexuals from its ranks at the University of Montana is appealing a federal judge's ruling that upholds UM's decision not to recognize the group as a registered student organization.

The First Amendment case was brought in December 2007 when the local chapter of the Christian Legal Society sued the law school, arguing that UM violated its rights to free speech when the Student Bar Association refused to fund the society.

The Student Bar Association says it refused funding because the group's mission is at odds with a non-discrimination policy requiring student groups to be “open to all members of the school of law.” The Christian Legal Society, a national faith-based organization, requires members of its individual chapters to sign a “statement of faith” pledging to uphold “sexual morality standards.” Those standards ban homosexuality, adultery and extramarital sex.

Filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula, the lawsuit names UM Law Dean Edwin Eck, Student Affairs Director Margaret Tonon and the executive board of UM's Student Bar Association as defendants.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull ruled that UM's Law School did not violate the rights of the Christian Legal Society when it refused to recognize the group as an official student organization.

All students enrolled in the School of Law automatically become members of the Student Bar Association and pay mandatory student activity fees. The Student Bar Association then determines funding to student law groups.

Last Friday, the Christian Legal Society filed notice that it would appeal Cebull's decision with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Briefs in support of the appeal must be filed by July 28.

According to the suit, the Christian Legal Society encourages Christian law students to grow in their faith as they learn the law. To protect the Christian message, the organization says it requires all voting members and leaders to agree with the statement of faith.

“Christian student groups shouldn't be discriminated against for their beliefs. All student groups have the right to associate with people of like mind and interest,” CLS attorney Casey Mattox said in a statement. “For example, the Environmental Law Group at UM seeks to promote certain views of global warming. Should it be forced to accept members and officers who hold to views that undermine the group's purpose? Similarly, religious groups should be allowed to select officers and voting members from those who share their views to ensure that their message and whole reason for being is not lost.”

Sunday M.A.S.S. for June

It's time once again for that raucous affair known worldwide as "Sunday Brunch with the Missoula Area Secular Society."

We'll be meeting again at Finnegan's Restaurant at 10am, June 7th. Come on down to share some great conversation with bunch of heathens and infidels, and help us sacrifice a chicken ovum or two to appease our ravenous bellies.

We'll try to get the big table in the very back by the fire exit again (turn right as you come in the front door, then veer left toward the back).

As usual, RSVP (if you wish) on Facebook, and for last minute updates, follow us on Twitter and have our updates sent directly to your phone.

Prose and Pabulum

Once again, the Missoula Area Secular Society (M.A.S.S.) is getting together for a little evening sustenance and small talk.

When: Saturday, May30th, 5:30pm
Where: The Montana Club on North Reserve (NOT the one on Brooks).

After the meal we'll figure out where in the building Sam Singleton (Atheist Evangelist) will be doing his show "Patriarchs and Penises". Shouldn't be too hard to find.

If you haven't gotten your ticket to Sam's show yet, do so now! (<- click that link... do it!). If you'd prefer to just go to the show and skip M.A.S.S., by all means do (our hurt feelings will recover). The show starts promptly at 7:00pm.

If you're coming to dinner and not sure who to look for, Jon will be wearing his Sam Singleton t-shirt (black with red lettering on the front). If Jon notices you trying to read his shirt, expect a big friendly smile. We'll also be sure to twitter important details of where we're sitting, so setup your phone to automatically get our tweets.

Time/Location Change for Diner/Movie Night

Joni pointed out that the Uptown Diner closes at 3pm every day. Apparently they're about as interested in the IWFF Diner crowd as Food for Thought was in the Easter Brunch crowd. Oh, well. It's not as if there's a shortage of alternate locations to spend our money at.

Therefore, we'll be meeting next door, at the Pita Pit. Also, since service there should be much faster, we'll wait until 6:30 to meet. See you all then. Sorry for any confusion.

Diner before Darwin / Movie Night

This is the second of three events in the busy month of May for the Missoula Area Secular Society (M.A.S.S.).

Join us for Diner at the Pita Pit on May 15th, before we wander over to The Wilma for the International Wildlife Film Festival's double feature evening presentation of multi-award winning films, the second of which is "Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life" by the BBC and featuring David Attenborough.

We'll start out meeting at the Pita Pit at 6:30pm for diner, then migrate over to the Wilma at about 7:00 for the 7:30 start time. If you can't make it to diner, be sure to catch up with us before we go into the theater.

If you're not sure who to look for, Jon will be wearing his "DARWIN08" Campaign Shirt. We'll also be twittering details of where we're sitting and when we're moving down the street, so have our tweets sent to your phone for up to the second alerts about how to find us.

Also, don't forget to RSVP on the Facebook Event Page (not required!), and join the Facebook Group if you haven't already.

Happy National Day of Reason Everyone!

Many who value the separation of religion and government have sought an appropriate response to the federally-supported National Day of Prayer, an annual abuse of the constitution. Nontheistic Americans (including freethinkers, humanists, atheists, agnostics, and deists), along with many traditionally religious allies, view such government-sanctioned sectarianism as unduly exclusionary.

A consortium of leaders from within the community of reason endorsed the idea of a National Day of Reason. This observance is held in parallel with the National Day of Prayer, on the first Thursday in May each year (May 7th in 2009). The goal of this effort is to celebrate reason—a concept all Americans can support—and to raise public awareness about the persistent threat to religious liberty posed by government intrusion into the private sphere of worship.

The Day of Reason also exists to inspire the secular community to be visible and active on this day to set the right example for how to effect positive change. Local organizations might use "Day of Reason" to label their events, or they might choose labels such as Day of Action, Day of Service, or Rational Day of Care. The important message is to provide a positive, useful, constitutional alternative to the exclusionary National Day of Prayer.

Continued on the National Day of Reason website

Brunch and Multiple Upcoming Events

We had a great brunch today at Finnegan's, and it looks as if that may be the de facto location for our monthly Sunday M.A.S.S. events for the foreseeable future.

We were extremely happy and honored to have Brother Sam Singleton make a not so surprise visit to join us for brunch today. (I admit it, I knew ahead of time.) Our M.A.S.S. gatherings are always fun, but they're even more so whenever Brother Sam makes the long trip in from Dodge City, or wherever it is that the stagecoach picks him up, to join us. Thanks Brother Sam!

There's lots of events coming up, so let me give you a brief description so you can start making plans.

First, mark your calendar for the evening of Friday, May 15th. The International Wildlife Film Festival will be screening "Darwin and the Tree of Life" along with "Green" at 7:30. Both films won multiple awards for this year's festival so this should be a great evening. We'll probably try to gather somewhere downtown before hand for a quick dinner before walking over to the Wilma at 7:00 to get into the show.

Second, have you heard of Sam Singleton, Atheist Evangelist? (I may have mentioned him before). He'll be doing a special Missoula performance of "Patriarchs and Penises, A Comedy in Two Acts" on Saturday, May 30th at 7pm sharp at the Montana Club on North Reserve (not the one on Brooks). M.A.S.S. will almost certainly be meeting at the Montana Club before the show for dinner, so feel free to join us, or just come to the show. Tickets for the show are $10 in advance from brownpapertickets.com or $12 cash at the door.

But wait. it doesn't end there. Rumors are still floating around about a camping trip and movie nights. Camping trip dates and locations are apparently being discussed by the camping committee, and investigations into the use of an actual mini-theater for movie nights are being conducted by the movie night committee. And of course, we are now meeting for "Sunday M.A.S.S." at Finnegan's on the first Sunday of every month (next one being June 7th).

We'll post further details on all of these events as they become available. Keep in the know by subscribing to the RSS feed for the blog, and/or joining the Facebook group, and/or following us on Twitter. Note that minor updates and alerts that aren't worthy of the blog or Facebook get posted to the Twitter account, including the occasional last minute (literally) changes to event locations. So, to stay in the know, make sure our twitter updates are being sent right to your phone.