Creationists Sue for Right to Give Master’s Degree : Education: Institute in Santee says the state has violated its constitutional rights by withdrawing its permission to issue degrees.

A small, private Christian graduate school filed suit in federal court Friday alleging that the state Department of Education, Superintendent of Public Instruction Bill Honig and other state administrators have violated its constitutional rights by withdrawing its license to issue master’s degrees.

In a 23-page complaint filed in U. S. District Court in San Diego, attorneys for the Institute for Creation Research in Santee alleged that Honig and his department have deprived the school of freedom of speech, free exercise of religion and due process. The suit seeks an injunction against the state for withdrawing its approval, unspecified damages and court costs.

“The question is not what view of origins is correct,” the suit says, “but whether a private institution may be forced to indoctrinate its students in the state-approved interpretation and to censor an alternative interpretation.”

In March, after a state Board of Education evaluation team recommended that state approval be removed, Honig denied approval to the institute to grant master’s of science degrees. Since then, administrators at the institute have accused Honig of being a “religious bigot.”

“If the state can tell a private Christian school that they can’t teach Christian doctrine, then the state has too much power,” said John Morris, administrative vice president of the institute. “We’re not asking the state to rule that creationism is the valid scientific interpretation, and we’re not asking for inclusion of creationism in the public schools. We are asking for freedom of speech.”

Morris and others claim that Honig’s aim is to shut down the institute, which adheres to a strict biblical interpretation of the creation of the Earth and life on it. The institute has granted about 20 master’s degrees in biology, geology, physics and science education since 1981.

But William L. Rukeyser, special assistant to Honig, disputed that claim.

“ICR’s continued existence is not at question. Nobody is trying to shut down ICR,” said Rukeyser, who had not yet seen the lawsuit. “But we cannot legally describe ICR’s current curriculum as qualifying for a master’s of science degree. . . . If they wish to grant master’s of creationism degrees, that would be fine with (Honig). If they want to describe it as a degree in a system of beliefs, that would be fine.

“What is at question is essentially truth in advertising,” Rukeyser said. He compared the institute’s claims to a car salesman offering “to sell me a used Ford, but calling it a Chevy.” He also said that, if the institute sought independent accreditation, as do most private colleges and universities, “then they wouldn’t have to deal with what Bill Honig thinks.”

Morris said: “I’ve been trained in only evolutionary schools, and I have many close friends who are evolutionists. We’re not saying evolution is not a valid viewpoint. We’re saying there’s a better viewpoint.

“We’re not Bible-thumping fundamentalists,” he said. “We are scientists who are also Christians. We don’t teach the Bible; we don’t teach theology; we teach science. But Honig has said that, because our school has this creationist flavor, our science is no good.”

The lawsuit points out that the Department of Education licensed the institute in 1981, 1984 and 1988, “when the graduate school was not as strong academically as it was in 1989 and is today.” The approval was withdrawn, the suit claims, only after Honig’s intervention turned the approval process into a “sham.”

The suit says the five-member team that visited the school in late 1989 was “carefully stacked” to guarantee a negative evaluation. The team included two science faculty members from UCLA, one from UC San Diego, one from California State University, Long Beach and one from Cedarville (Ohio) College.

The suit also accuses Honig and the department of violating California law by changing regulations governing the procedure to be followed when a license renewal has been challenged.

Rukeyser disagreed.

“At every step of the way, what we’ve done has been with legal guidance, and we are quite convinced that all the laws involved have been followed,” he said. Instead of suing, he added, “ICR would be much better served by using its resources and energy to bring its faculty and curriculum up to the standards where they could seek accreditation from a non-governmental association.”

The suit claims that Honig and his colleagues have balked at licensing the institute because they “wrongly contended that such approval implied state endorsement of the school’s philosophy.”

Because the school is not accredited, it needs a state license to operate.

Morris said endorsement is not the issue.

“There are approved by Mr. Honig’s office homosexual brothels that teach homosexual technique. Do they endorse that?” Morris asked. “The brochure is full of nude men doing things to each other. So hopefully we’re not talking about endorsement here.”

Rukeyser retorted: “Does he claim that any of those institutions are claiming to offer master’s of science degrees? I don’t think so.”