British Columbia court backs Christian university in accreditation battle

November 03, 2016

Upholding a lower court ruling, an appellate court in British Columbia ruled that the province’s law society erred in denying accreditation to Trinity Western University’s incipient law school.

Students at the Christian university pledge to abstain from “sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman”—a clause in the university’s community covenant that has led to intense opposition from gay activists.

The British Columbia Court of Appeal ruled that the Law Society’s opposition to accreditation “denies these Evangelical Christians the ability to exercise fundamental religious and associative rights.”

In recent months, courts in other provinces have arrived at opposing conclusions in related cases.

 

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Further information:

• Trinity Western University Law School wins legal battle in B.C. court (CBC)
• Community In Covenant (Trinity Western University)
• Nova Scotia court grants accreditation victory to Christian law school (CWN, 7/30)
• Canadian court upholds denial of accreditation to Christian law school (CWN, 6/28)