- A Christian student groupat The University of Iowa

is asking a federal appeals court

to hold the school accountablefor religious discrimination.

The Business Leaders in Christ

says school officialskicked them off campus

and put it on a religious watch list

for requiring its leaders tosign a statement of faith.

Well joining us now from Becket,

the firm representing the student group,

is senior counsel Eric Baxter.

Eric, welcome to "Newswatch."

- Thank you. Good to be with you.

- Well thanks for joining us.

Tell us more.

Do you think the university singled out

business leaders that believe in Christ?

- Absolutely.

The university asked our clients

to detail their beliefsin their constitution

and then once our clients did that,

the university accusedthem of being bigots

and discriminating becauseof their traditional beliefs

on marriage and sexuality.

And the university thenderegistered our client,

essentially kicking them off campus.

- Where do other religiousgroups on campus stand?

I'm assuming there are otherreligious groups on campus.

Are they able to continue meeting?

- Well after we complained,the university doubled down

and kicked a number of otherreligious groups off campus

for requiring their leadersto share their beliefs,

which you'd think wouldbe pretty common sense.

Ironically, the one group that had beliefs

exactly opposite of our clients

were allowed to remain on campus

and given preferential treatment.

So that was textbook discrimination

in violation of our clients'First Amendment rights.

- That's incredible.

I mean, given that a university

is supposed to be a place where everyone,

free thought is supposed to be celebrated

and different ideas and ideologies,

but not the case it seems.

Well we've seen cases likethis before, of course.

What are you expecting as an outcome?

- Well we've asked the court in this case

to hold the college officials responsible

for what they've done.

We think that no college officialcould believe it was okay

to kick a religious group off campus

unless it changed its beliefs.

It's outrageous that they were even asked

to change their statement of faith.

And so we've asked the court of appeals

to hold those officials accountable

and we're hopeful that thecourt will issue a ruling

in the next three tofour months doing that.

- Eric, what can be done at a higher level

to make sure colleges anduniversities like this one in Iowa

cannot discriminate like this?

- You know, we're reallyproud of our clients,

students who really justwanted to provide a space

for other students tolive out their faith,

but they were willing to take a stand

and stand up for what was right,

to go to the university anddemand that they be treated,

given the same treatment asevery other group on campus.

And I think that's reallyimportant for other students

to see that and be willing tostand up for what they know

are their rights under the Constitution.

- You mentioned that a group

with just the exact oppositebeliefs as this group,

which was a BusinessLeaders in Christ group,

is allowed to remain oncampus and continue to meet.

I'm assuming this is somesort of atheist group?

I don't know if you'reallowed to mention it, but...

- Yeah, no, it was actually the student

who initially complainedabout BLINC's beliefs

about marriage and sexualityformed his own group

and required its leaders

to sign a gay affirmingstatement of faith.

And the university said,

"Well, basically welike what they're doing

"and so we're going to allowthem to stay on campus,

"but we think that what you're doing,"

to my clients, "is bigoted."

And kicked them off campus.

And actually in its briefingscalled our clients out,

saying they just wanted to participate

in illegal discrimination.

A really difficultsituation for our clients

who are really just trying to stand up

for their basic beliefs that are shared

by many, many Americans

and that the Supreme Court has recognized

as decent and honorable beliefs.

- Yeah.

Well it sounds like youhave a very good case

and we wish you all the best

and hope you'll come backand let us know how it goes.