Penn State cries uncle on Christian club

After complaining the school had "too many" Christian clubs, Penn State University agreed to approve DiscipleMakers Christian Fellowship as a registered student organization in the face of a civil-rights lawsuit.

The university recognizes more than 600 different clubs, ranging from the American Helicopter Society to the Young Americans for Freedom, says the Christian Legal Society's Center for Law & Religious Freedom, which filed the lawsuit with the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund.

But, as WorldNetDaily reported, when DiscipleMakers applied for registered status in April 2004, a university official charged with reviewing religious student organizations refused to approve the group because there were "too many [Christian] groups anyway and they were beginning to compete."

Penn State's decision also reversed its "uniqueness requirement" that said student organizations cannot "duplicate those of an already existing registered student organization."

Unlike secular school clubs, Penn State required religious student organizations to undergo a separate review process in which a university administrator – the director of the center for ethics and religious affairs, Sharon Mortensen – decided whether or not the club was sufficiently "unique" from existing religious student clubs to warrant registration.

Mortenson had recommended that DiscipleMakers affiliate itself with a local church to demonstrate its theological uniqueness. The group did as Mortensen directed, but it was denied again on the same grounds. The situation changed after the lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg Division, June 21.

"Penn State finally realized that their position is not defensible," said Benjamin Bull, chief counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund. "We are encouraged about the change in policy."

Denial of registered status meant the group did not have access to meeting rooms, bulletin boards and student organization funding.

"It's a recipe for disaster when a university official is set up as the arbiter of a club's theological distinctiveness," said Greg Baylor, director of the Center for Law and Religious Freedom.

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Penn State: 'Too many' Christian groups here