There was a case at Eastern Michigan University where a graduate counseling student, Julea Ward, was dismissed and refused completion of her studies and a diploma (even with a 3.91 GPA) because she, being a Christian, did not feel comfortable affirming a homosexual client's lifestyle. She had asked her supervisors if she could refer the client to another counselor. At first, the front-line supervisor agreed, but the department head did not. Julea was dismissed from the program on "bias" grounds, and because the University had a policy that affirmation of a client could not be denied. Julea sued claiming it was a violation of her First Amendment rights. The District Court ruled in favor of the University, so Julea appealed the case. The Sixth Circuit Court overturned the District Courts ruling and basically stated that the University, as any reasonable jury would conclude, that Ward's professors expelled her from the University because of hostility towards her speech and faith.
Nothing in Keeton indicates that Augusta State applied the prohibition on imposing a counselor’s values onNos. 10-2100/2145 Ward v. Polite et al. Page 21 the client in anything but an even-handed manner. Not so here, as the code of ethics, counseling norms, even the university’s own practices, seem to permit the one thing Ward sought: a referral. In short, the reason Julea was dismissed was due to a misconstruing of the policy thus creating a "phantom policy".
And again, implying that a reasonable jury - If the jury finds that the university dismissed Ward from the counseling program because of hostility to her religious speech and beliefs, that violates clearly established free-exercise and free-Nos. 10-2100/2145 Ward v. Polite et al. Page 22 speech rights. See Christian Legal Soc’y, 130 S. Ct. at 2987; Lukumi Babalu, 508 U.S. at 532; Settle, 53 F.3d at 155.
So, this is a justifiable "victory" in helping reverse a nationwide trend towards bigotry, discrimination and hostility towards people of faith in the public arena based on a faulty and "fabricated" separation of church and state clause (which is NOT in the Constitution by the way). That statement was in a letter from the Danbury Baptists complaining that other denominations were getting preferential treatment. The intent of Jefferson's "there exists a wall of separation" between government and church was (and the context of the letter support this) to keep the government from favoring one denomination over another (like the Church of England which was a government sponsored denomination in England at the time). The Supreme Court, in Everson, "stretched" this meaning (IMHO) to include that religion cannot be evident in a public setting where any government funding or support is present. This is not an accurate, historical, representation of the intent of our founders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_church_and_state
Just because the Supreme Court says so, does not make it necessarily right or constitutional (see the Dred Scott Decision). The Court can be wrong, and can be reversed. Let's hope this case, and its representation of a very "unhealthy" and trend towards unfounded "bias", helps to keep the tide turning towards its intended reality!