Julea Ward, a Christian graduate student at Eastern Michigan University, was expelled from the university's counseling program for not affirming homosexual behavior as acceptable, according to
a recent article. Because Ward did not agree to affirm a client's homosexual behavior prior to a counseling session and would not retract her stance in subsequent disciplinary proceedings, she was dismissed from the program.
EMU requires that all students in its counseling program affirm homosexual behavior within the context of a counseling relationship. They must also never tell their clients that homosexual behavior can be changed.
Ward refused to to attend a "remediation" session EMU mandated she undergo to see the "error of her ways" and change her "belief system." Upon her refusal, EMU required that Ward either voluntarily leave the program or ask for a formal faculty review hearing. Ward selected the latter option, at which the faculty belittled her Christian standpoint.
According to David French, Senior Counsel of
the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom, an academic institution should not have the right to remove a students simply because of their religious or moral convictions. He also believes that Ward's response to this situation was very responsible and professional.
“Christian students shouldn’t be penalized for holding to their beliefs,” French said. “When a public university has a prerequisite of affirming homosexual behavior as morally good in order to obtain a degree, the school is stepping over the legal line. Julea did the responsible thing and followed her supervising professor’s advice to have the client referred to a counselor who did not have a conscience issue with the very matter to be discussed in counseling.”What do you think about EMU's decision to remove Ward because of her refusal to affirm homosexual behavior? Do you think EMU had a good reason to dismiss her, or do you agree with French, that the university is "stepping over the legal line?"
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Comments (143)
Counsellors need to remain open to other people's beliefs and be able to put their own on hold for the sake of their client. If someone is not able to do that, they have no business counselling.
This brings back my thought of Liberty University expelling students who were practicing Democrats because it was not "Liberty's best interest." Honestly, I would think why she was in that school and program in the first place if she knew about their affirmation of homosexuality history.
@DrugInducedDuck@xanga - Exactly.
The University has the right to remove her. She goes against their policies.
She on the other hand also did the right thing by not backing down. She lost a job over it, but at least she didn't betray her convictions.
In the past Christians have often been forced from their jobs for professing to be a follower of Christ. Nothing new, just not often published.
I second what DrugInducedDuck said. The student can have her own personal beliefs and that's all fine and good, but she needs to put that aside if necessary to do what's best for her client.
I think some people are misunderstanding this. It was not a job, she was as student, in the counseling program. I would hope that the policy was made clear before she entered the program, if not, she should not have been penalized. If it was clear either she needed to find another institution or she was, from the beginning trying to take a stand and make a point.
Also, Liberty University didn't dismiss any students because they were democrats. They decided not to allow the democrat student group to meet on University property or to use the University name in any way.
I know these corrections will not change the mind of the people who commented above. That is not my intention. I just wanted to make sure the points were corrected.
Personally, if I was a Christian going into that profession, I would go to a Christian University. I don't think as a councilor you have to put aside your own beliefs because your beliefs are exactly what will help you decide what is good for that individual. A Christian believes the homosexual lifestyle is sinful and therefore not in the best interests of a person.
Ok, all of those who are going to go insane because I stated what I believe....go for it....but I won't rise to the bait.
To be rather blunt, as I usually am, the university's insistence that a counselor affirm certain sexual practices is ridiculous. Those who operate in a counseling role still have their right to a free conscience just like anyone else. If they have issues of conscience with furries, S&M, celibacy, or any other sexual practices considered deviant by a large portion of society then they can do the responsible thing that the grad student in question did and refer the client to someone better able to handle their request.
It's not as if affirming all life choices is a necessary part of being a counselor anyway. Even a versatile tool like a Swiss Army knife isn't suitable for every situation, and we shouldn't expect it to be. We should appreciate its usefulness and accept its limitations.
it's stated that the school expects counselors to affirm their clients' sexual orientation "within the context of a counseling relationship." it's not censuring its students' beliefs, merely ensuring that they do not censure their clients'.
@DrugInducedDuck@xanga - ditto.
clinical psychology is about helping people cope with who they are, not conforming them to what the psychiatrist thinks they should be. if the student's goal is a type of Christian counseling, she should also consider that many people in the pews are gay or lesbian or transgendered and that she will have to deal with all of that.
@brownize221@xanga - so if their client is a child molester their job is to affirm who they are? Really?
Religious Persecution. It's the liberal way.
@sugartomyhoney@xanga -
Please don't spew ignorant sentences to make know-nothing points.Of COURSE NOT. pedophelia is completely different than homosexuality or homosexual feelings. Same-gender-loving relationships are about the emotional connection and desire for intimacy that goes beyond sexual feelings. The same as heterosexual feelings.
Pedophiles hurt people and hurt themselves, endangering their life circumstances and endangering the safety of others around them. That's a more high-risk situation that needs to be addressed.
One might never stop being attracted to children completely, but they can learn behavior that will keep them out of trouble. They can learn behavior that will save them from becoming obsessed to the point of criminality. Ultimately, pedophiles are expressing some orientation of sexuality, they choose to direct their attractions to children however, which is indescribably harmful.
@Nous_Apeiron@xanga - Beautifully said.
A doctor that won't perform an abortion has the same right.No client should MAKE a doctor perform a non-life threatening procedure. A doctor should not turn down someone who is in a life-threatening situation.
That's the way the medical profession works.
I think this is another example of the morality that is being enforced in our country. One of the many reasons why I think that openmindedness is a urban myth; everyone has convictions.
As for the article, I think it is unfortunate for this student because a lot of hard work just got smashed for her, but it is also something that is likely to be expected more and more in days to come in the US.
@sugartomyhoney@xanga - No, she was a grad student, which means she delt with clients.
She was only being told she had to affirm to get the degree. She could have just put up with it and then afterwards done whatever she wanted. It was stupid on her part.
Schools have the right to create whatever requirements they want for their programs. It's no different than kids having "unnatural" hair colors or wearing piercings being forced to do away with those things or face suspension/expulsion for violating dress code.
@SirDoc@xanga - damn straight. Wooo keep it up! down with religion!!
So it would have been better if the shrink affirmed the behaviour as "morally wrong?"
How the fuck does that work?
It is high time Christians abandoned the anti-Christian values of fear, hatred, and legalism in our dealings with LGBT people, and replaced them with Christian wisdom, love, and grace. Most Christians' stance on homosexuality is based on a [deliberately?] faulty understanding of scripture, both in terms of the individual verses twisted against LGBT brothers and sisters, and in terms of its inconsistency with the rest of scripture. This false teaching that homosexuality is sin and that LGBT Christians can't live in loving same-sex relationships, and Christians' sinful, shameful treatment of us as a result of it, is one of Satan's great accomplishments in the modern age.
This student was absolutely wrong - especially as a Christian and as a counseling student - in her refusal to treat her client with the dignity and compassion of which he is no less deserving than any other of her cleints. The university has the responsibility to educate students. A counseling student who refuses to learn compassion is like a music student who refuses to learn harmony, or a physics student who refuses to learn calculus. While the faculty memebers were wrong to belittle the student's Christian faith, they as a whole were correct in removing her from the program.
this girl is in the wrong career field.
@sugartomyhoney@xanga - Wow, that's apples and oranges there, buddy. Why does everyone relate homosexuality to pedophilia anyway? Who are gay people hurting?
She did the right thing, and the school stuck to their policies. Now the woman can attend another school where the policies do not make her violate her conscience as a Christian.
Its all been stated well already. The school has a right to its policies, she has a right to her beliefs. It makes perfect sense that in a counseling situation you have to affirm a person's sexual orientation. Telling them it is sinful or wrong could cause all kinds of psychological harm, especially say in teens who are going to counseling to cope with their homosexuality to begin with. Telling them their feelings are sinful and unnatural could very easily cause them to become suicidal. If she wants to be a Christian counselor, there are schools for that. If she wants to be a secular counselor, she will have to learn to deal with people of all kinds of variant lifestyles and backgrounds contrary to her religious beliefs. She can believe whatever she wants but to be an effective counselor she is going to have to learn to be tolerant of her patients.
Who are they hurting? They are hurting themselves and those they partner with. The tendency to relate pedophelia to homosexuality is based on the phenomena where children begin practicing homosexuality after being seduced and/or molested by a homosexual adult, and later come to identify themselves as a homosexual based on this life long practice.