Law Grads' Religious Freedom No Longer in Jeopardy

Law school graduates whose accreditation was put on hold due to their religious beliefs are now free to move forward with their careers.

"True religious freedom requires no less than the ability to speak and act consistently with their faith without fear of retaliation," according Alliance Defending Freedom Cousel Joseph Infranco.

Law students at Trinity Western University in Canada are now assured of this freedom following the recent ruling of a Nova Scotia Supreme Court. It ruled Wednesday that the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society does not have the authority to deny accreditation to TWU's School of Law.

In October 2014, the NSBS refused to recognize TWU graduates as lawyers because the school had certain beliefs regarding sexual relations.

TWU's policy abides by Biblical marriage, requiring all students, faculty and staff to refrain from premarital sex, or any sex outside of marriage between a man and woman.

The court concluded that the NSBS violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and did not consider “the concerns for religious freedom and liberty of conscience.”

“Canadians should be free to live and work according to their deeply held convictions. The same applies to faith-based educational institutions, which should be free to operate according to the faith they teach and espouse,” Gerald Chipeur, Q.C., of the Canadian firm Miller Thompson, LLP, and a private attorney allied with Alliance Defending Freedom said.

“The court was right to affirm the right of this law school and its students to adhere to their sincerely held religious beliefs, which the Charter fully protects," Chipeur added.

The court's decision went even further, questioning the authority of the NSBS assumed when they withheld accreditation over sexual beliefs in the first place.

“(The case) is first about whether the NSBS had the authority to do what it did. It is also about whether, even if it had that authority, the NSBS reasonably considered the implications of its actions on the religious freedoms of TWU and its students in a way that was consistent with Canadian legal values of inclusiveness, pluralism and the respect for the rule of law," Justice Jamie S. Campbell of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court wrote in the final decision.

"I have concluded that the NSBS did not have the authority to do what it did. I have also concluded that even if it did have that authority it did not exercise it in a way that reasonably considered the concerns for religious freedom and liberty of conscience," Campbell added.