| Can a college professor require a student to renounce her faith?
If a person is punished for their religious beliefs when those beliefs do not affect their attendance or performance, and do not create a hostile or distracting environment for their classmates, then that person's civil rights have been violated. Imagine the reverse: suppose a professor had said he would dock 100 points from the grade of anyone who refused to publicly state that "There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet." Would that be a civil rights violation? Of course it would. And it's exactly the same situation. The professor is free to make his argument, and he's free to require a certain methodology in relation to his tests, quizzes, homework, and class participation. But when he directly interferes with a student's beliefs when those beliefs do not affect his or her ability to do the work as given then he has stepped over the line.
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