“The court agreed that the university has to stop discriminating against BLinC because of its religious beliefs,” Eric Baxter, a senior counsel with the religious freedom law firm Becket, which is representing BlinC in the case, said in a statement. “Every other group on campus gets to select leaders who embrace their mission. Religious groups don’t get second-class treatment.”

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the University of Iowa must temporarily reinstate a Christian student group that was punished last fall because it denied a leadership position to a gay student who refused to accept the club’s statement of faith opposing homosexuality.

Judge Stephanie Marie Rose of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa granted Business Leaders in Christ’s (BLinC) request for a preliminary injunction and ordered that the state school reinstate the group as a registered campus student organization for at least 90 days.

“The court agreed that the university has to stop discriminating against BLinC because of its religious beliefs,” Eric Baxter, a senior counsel with the religious freedom law firm Becket, which is representing BlinC in the case, said in a statement. “Every other group on campus gets to select leaders who embrace their mission. Religious groups don’t get second-class treatment.”

BLinC filed a lawsuit against the school in December after they were kicked off campus because the school deemed that the organization violated its policy on discrimination by asking student leaders to sign a statement of faith that requires them to adhere to lifestyle and moral standards that exclude engaging in “sexual immorality” and other behavior deemed sinful.

The group requested expedited relief so that they could be allowed back on campus to participate in the University of Iowa’s spring recruitment fairs being held Wednesday, one of the biggest opportunities of the semester for student clubs to recruit new members. A hearing was held last Thursday.

Rose wrote in her decision that the school doesn’t seem to fairly apply its human rights policy.

Although BLinC was punished for having a religious restriction in its leadership policy that went against the school’s policy on discrimination, the Muslim campus group Imam Mahdi is seemingly allowed to have a policy in which membership benefits are reserved for Shia Muslims and leaders must “refrain from major sins (kaba’ir) and endeavor to avoid minor sins (saga’ir).”

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