Wednesday night, the Student Services Finance Committee decided to make two groups, the UW Roman Catholic Foundation and the Jewish Cultural Collective, eligible for university funding. While detractors say the decision breaks constitutional barriers between Church and State, the fact of the matter is that this ruling was really a First Amendment issue.
This issue is not about the government's prerogative to separate itself from religion. That axiom deems that religion must not impinge on the government's, or the university's, ability to rule. America is a liberal society-the government must grant citizens their civil liberties, including the freedom to not be ruled by the ideology of a certain religion. The government cannot instill morals on the people without the consent of the people. Just by receiving funding, the groups that were discussed Wednesday cannot intrude on students' freedoms and the university's ability to make decisions.
Another argument against Wednesday's ruling is that many students do not support these religions, so students should not have to pay for their groups. These two groups present Christianity and Judaism as ideologies; other groups certainly have ideologies, and we support them financially. If SSFC decides one group's ideology is not worthy of funding, than it must stop funding all ideological groups. Otherwise it holds a monopoly on knowledge. That is, the university's mission is no longer the search for knowledge, but rather the appointment of ideas that someone considers acceptable.
First Amendment cases have proved that the government may not discriminate based on viewpoints (within limits-a viewpoint must not pose an \imminent and present danger""). If the university's policy is to fund groups, than it must fund them carefully and consistently.
