Res Publica 2005

I don't know all the details of this case, but it sort of dovetails with Bill Maher's recent statement about those who believe in God have a mental problem:

Jury selection began today (March 7) in a federal trial in which a public university in Pennsylvania is being sued because school officials tried to have a Christian student involuntarily committed to a mental hospital.

Back in 1999 Temple University sponsored the controversial and blasphemous play Corpus Christi, in which Christ is portrayed as a homosexual. Michael Marcavage, then a Christian student at the Philadelphia school, complained to administrators. Temple officials eventually tried to have Marcavage committed to a mental institution because of his opposition to the play.

Steve Crampton, an attorney with the AFA Center for Law & Policy, says it is to Marcavage's credit that he relied on God throughout his clash with the university and became stronger as a result of the experience. "Of course," the lawyer notes, "that doesn't excuse the wrongdoing." He says the AFA Law Center is expecting and hoping the jury will recognize the 1999 incident for what it is.

The complaint filed on the former Temple student's behalf alleges that two university officials "unlawfully and intentionally assaulted and forcibly restrained" Marcavage on November 2, 1999, and then unlawfully ordered police to handcuff and transport him to the university hospital, where he was involuntarily committed for psychiatric evaluation.

Crampton believes the Pennsylvania school tried to muzzle Marcavage's religious viewpoint, ignoring his First Amendment rights in the process. "So we expect and hope that the jury will want to send a message to Temple and to its officials that interference with constitutional rights simply can't be tolerated," the pro-family attorney says.

Academic diversity too often means, I will respect your diveristy if it's one of the groups I think are cool - but if it's not I will try to crush you. I don't know the details of how they tried to push this person, but doing things they call art which are blashpemous to someone's religious beliefs may be an exercise in free speech - but it also is not grounds to try to crush the free speech of another who wants to protest it.