The panel questioned why the counseling department treated Ward differently than students in other settings. “That her conflict arose from religious convictions is not a good answer; that her conflict arose from religious convictions for which the department at times showed little tolerance is a worse answer,”

A federal appeals court has delivered at least a temporary victory for religious freedom and free speech in the confrontation between Christian counseling students and university programs that affirm homosexuality.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 27 in favor of an Eastern Michigan University (EMU) graduate student who declined to affirm the “sexual orientation” of homosexual clients because of her religious beliefs. As a result of her refusal, the university expelled Julea Ward from the counseling program in 2009.

A three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit unanimously overturned a federal court’s summary judgment in favor of the school. The judges sent the case back to the federal judge for a trial, saying a “reasonable jury” could find Ward did not breach a code of ethics and EMU violated her “religious views and speech.” The panel did not say Ward should win, only that the case should receive a trial under its ruling.

Advocates for religious freedom and free speech commended the decision.

“Public universities shouldn’t force students to violate their religious beliefs to get a degree. The court rightly understood this and ruled appropriately,” said Jeremy Tedesco, legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund. Tedesco argued for Ward before the court.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said the ruling “marks an important step in defending the religious and intellectual freedoms of Americans.”

The decision followed by six weeks a federal appeals court decision that went against another Christian counseling student at a public university. A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit refused Dec. 16 to issue a court order requested by Jennifer Keeton to prevent Augusta (Ga.) State University from dismissing her from its counseling program.

In issuing its opinion in Ward v. Polite, the Sixth Circuit panel said there were factual differences between the two cases.

[Editor’s note: This article is incomplete. The source for this document was originally published on Baptist Press—however, the link (URL) to the original article is unavailable and has been removed.]