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School also required him to recant his beliefs, enroll in remediation, suit says

A recently filed lawsuit against Missouri State University alleges the school kicked a Christian student out of its master’s degree program for saying he would not counsel gay couples because of his religious beliefs.

Plaintiff Andrew Cash’s approach to counseling “is centered on his core beliefs, values and
Christian worldview and these would not be congruent with the likely values and needs of a gay couple who, for these reasons, would be best served by a counselor sharing their core value system and core beliefs,” the lawsuit states.

Cash said he would, however, counsel homosexuals individually for things like anxiety and depression. But that was not good enough for Missouri State, according to the lawsuit, which says school officials claimed his stance contradicted the American Counseling Association’s code of ethics as discriminatory.

The counseling department internship coordinator told Cash to leave his Christian counseling internship and required him to read and comment on an article titled “Implications for Refusing to Counseling Homosexual Relationships” as a condition for determining whether he was suitable to return to any internship, the suit adds.

Even though Cash went along with the mandates — even finding a new place to intern — school officials required him to take numerous and onerous steps to appease their concerns with his views, such as retake classes and discount all his previous hours of volunteer counseling at a Christian office.

Cash, who had a 3.8 grade-point average and no other disciplinary marks on his record, repeatedly appealed these demands, until in November 2014 he was removed from the program, the lawsuit states.

“[Cash’s] experience at MSU has been devastating, crushing, and tormenting, culminating in his termination from the program — all because he interned with a Christian organization and expressed his religious beliefs on a hypothetical question about counseling a gay couple on relationship issues,” the lawsuit states. “[He] was targeted and punished for expressing his Christian worldview regarding a hypothetical situation concerning whether he would provide counseling services to a gay/homosexual couple. Since he did not give the ‘correct’ answer required by his counseling
instructors, he was considered unsuitable for counseling and terminated from the program.”

RELATED: NC State repeatedly discriminated against, hindered Christian student group, lawsuit claims

Cash is demanding that the school reinstate him and put safeguards in place so that he can successfully earn his degree, reports a spokesman for the Thomas More Society, which filed the litigation on Cash’s behalf.

“Traditionally, universities have been places for free exchange of ideas and values, both religious and secular,” Thomas Olp, an attorney for the Thomas More Society, said in a prepared statement.

The lawsuit adds: “By prohibiting [Cash] from completing an approved clinical internship because of his religious beliefs that defendants did not share, by denying him clinical hours he properly earned, by requiring him to recant his beliefs, and by forcing him into a remediation program to repeat courses he had already successfully completed, and finally by expelling him from the Counseling
Program when he had earned 39 of 48 credit hours required for his counseling degree, all because of his religious beliefs and free expression, defendants abridged [his] rights to freedom of thought, speech, speech, religion, and association …”

The outcome of the lawsuit could have vast repercussions.

David Kaplan, the chief professional officer of the American Counseling Association, told the News-Leader that he hopes a ruling against Cash will set a strong precedent to uphold the American Counseling Association’s code of ethics.

“This is not about First Amendment rights, this is about the right of a profession to uphold its professional values and for clients to know what they’re getting,” Kaplan said.

Campus spokeswoman Suzanne Shaw told the News-Leader the school will not comment on pending litigation and the university strictly prohibits discrimination on basis of religion.

RELATED: To fight ‘oppression,’ campus posters tell Christian students to check their privilege

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