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Thursday, February 13, 2025 - 10:53 AM

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA FOR 30+ YRS

First Published & Printed in 1994

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA FOR OVER 30 YEARS!

WASHINGTON -- Continuing its undefeated record of First Amendment court cases involving Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and Ratio Christi (RC), the college campus evangelism and apologetics ministry proved victorious over the Secular Student Alliance. In 2020, President Trump’s first Department of Education enacted the “Free Inquiry Rule,” which allowed religious campus student organizations to have leaders who reflect the organization’s theological beliefs and to share those beliefs freely without university discrimination. Previously, public universities were pressuring Christian organizations to allow non-Christians to serve on their leadership teams or risk losing university recognition on campus. In some cases, like at the University of Iowa, religious student groups were being de-listed and barred from receiving university funds available to other student groups. The Free Inquiry Rule was put to the test in January of 2021 when the Secular Student Alliance (SSA), with the assistance of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, filed suit against the Biden administration’s Department of Education. That same month, Ratio Christi moved to enter the case to defend the Free Inquiry Rule. The Biden administration, sympathetic to SSA’s claims, initially tried to repeal the Free Inquiry Rule. In December of 2024, however, the Biden administration announced it was abandoning its attempt to change the regulation.

On January 15th, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District Court of Columbia ruled in favor of the unchanged Free Inquiry Rule.

Ratio Christi’s legal defense, Alliance Defending Freedom, put out this statement from Senior Counsel Matt Bowman,

Universities are meant to be a marketplace of ideas where students can learn to respect diverse opinions and beliefs and not have to fear punishment or harassment because of their own values. The Department of Education under President Trump rightfully updated its regulations to ensure that institutions of higher education have policies that align with the First Amendment. Christian student group Ratio Christi has at least twice gone to court over discriminatory policies targeted at their beliefs, and the Department of Education updated its regulations to prevent these types of violations. We’re pleased the court upheld First Amendment freedoms for college students everywhere.

Ratio Christi is a college campus ministry with more than 100 chapter groups across the United States. They equip university students and faculty to give historical, scientific, and philosophical reasons to believe Christianity is true. For more information or to support their efforts, visit RatioChristi.org.