Augusta State University to student: Accept homosexuality or leave school

Anderson-Wiley reportedly complained about Keeton’s Christian belief that homosexuality is sinful and demanded she choose between her faith and the American Counseling Association’s Code of Ethics.

“You couldn’t be a teacher, let alone a counselor, with those views,” court documents quoted Dr. Paulette Schenck, another of the university’s counseling professors, as having said in response to Keeton’s affirmation of her Christian beliefs.

And Anderson-Wiley subsequently told Keeton the faculty wanted her to “alter some of her beliefs,” court documents say.

According to e-mails between Keeton and the professors, the faculty does not expect her to change her personal beliefs and values, but rather wants her to not expect others to share her values or impose them during her counseling sessions.

“This is the unethical part  — applying your own personal beliefs and values on other people and not truly accepting that others can have different beliefs and values that are as equally valid as your own,” court documents say Schenck wrote in an e-mail exchange with Keeton.

The ACA would not immediately comment on the facts of the case, but released a statement clarifying its standards.

“The ACA Code of Ethics serves to ensure that counselors and counselors-in-training conduct themselves in a way which is consistent with the ideals of the profession. As such, the core values of diversity, multiculturalism and inclusion are present throughout the code and are crucial to the ethical decision-making process,” Erin Martz, ACA’s manager of ethics and professional standards wrote in an e-mailed statement.

According to French, the university crossed the line by mandating Keeton hold a certain set of beliefs.

“This is not the role of the state to be supervising their students’ religious beliefs, must less mandating their religious beliefs,” French said. “They certainly believe the values they hold trump her religious beliefs and that she should change her religious beliefs to match their beliefs…[It’s] fundamentally coercive.”

The courts have defined “religion” as a deeply held worldview that holds the same place in a person’s life as a conventional religion such as Christianity or Islam; consequently, an effort to require students to adhere to a certain worldview could potentially violate the Establishment Clause.

As a result, French said the university’s effort likely violates the Establishment Clause as well as the First Amendment’s free exercise clause.

“The left has been extremely upset by the fact that you would even see a picture of the 10 Commandments, or hear a prayer, or see a nativity scene,” French said. “None of those things are coercive. Here they are actually coercing students, they are actually saying, ‘Your religious beliefs disqualify you from this program, and to stay in this program you must alter your beliefs.’”

He continued, “They are going beyond censoring speech and stampeding straight to trying to change her heart and mind on religious issues and religious beliefs.”

Augusta State University would had not comment on the case, but spokeswoman Tunisia Williams told TheDC that her school does not deny students admission to programs because of “their personal religious persuasions.”

Ed. note: A previous version of this story mistakenly identified Jennifer Keeton as Jennifer Keeting.

WATCH: MASS. TOWN BANS BOTTLED WATER