Silenced Christian wins free-speech battle

Silenced Christian wins free-speech battle
State university barred him from speaking to students about faith

A man barred from speaking about his Christian faith on a New York state college campus won a civil-rights lawsuit yesterday in federal court claiming violation of his free-speech rights.

Officials at Ulster County Community College in Stone Ridge, N.Y., told Greg Davis of Indian Lake, N.Y., he needed to file a facilities-use permit application to speak about his faith with students in a public, grassy area on campus in October 2003.

But when he did so, his application was denied because the school claimed his desired religious expression does not constitute a "cultural, educational, social or recreational" activity.

Attorneys with the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund represented Davis.

"Christian speech should not be treated as second-class speech," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Nate Kellum.

The judge accepted an agreement ADF reached with school officials recognizing that Davis' constitutional rights had been violated.

Kellum argued the U.S. Constitution "does not say that speech is only free if it falls under certain arbitrary categories developed and defined by public officials."

ADF filed the civil rights lawsuit [pdf file] last September in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, Albany Division

Yesterday's ruling was the sixth victory for Kellum in federal appellate courts in the last three years.

At first, Davis said, he was told by a school official he could speak about his faith on campus. But later the same day he was told he would need to submit a facilities use permit application even though he did not intend to make use of any school buildings.

Eventually, Davis left campus when another school official informed him his religious expression was prohibited altogether.

Davis then filed the permit application that later was denied.