DENVER (Reuters) - Lawyers for a devout Mormon drama student has told a federal appeals court the young woman felt forced to drop out of school after being pressured to curse on stage and use words that violated her conscience.
Judges at the hearing over whether the University of Utah, a state school in Salt Lake City, should have required Christina Axson-Flynn to say objectionable words avoided saying them themselves on Tuesday and instead asked delicately about the "f" word.
Axson-Flynn, who lost her case in a lower court, had testified she told professors at her audition for the drama program that she would rather not be admitted than be forced to say words she found objectionable or to take the Lord's name in vain.
The professors maintain they told her that if she were admitted she would have to use the exact wording of a play.
Her attorneys portray the case as one of religious freedom, while the university, represented by the state attorney general's office, said the case is about academic freedom.
Axson-Flynn, whose parents are professional actors in the Salt Lake City area, is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the Mormon Church is formally called.
Her attorneys argued she was singled out because professors allowed another student, who is Jewish, to miss performances on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath.
Instead, she was told to ask other Mormon students about whether her faith allowed her to use offensive language, her lawyer said.
DROPS OUT
She felt so pressured to use objectionable words she dropped out of school. She wanted to substitute the objectionable words, but was told to read the lines as the authors wrote them. She now teaches drama to young students.
"They just grew tired of her and told her to get over her inhibitions," her attorney Michael Paulsen told the judges.
But an attorney with the Utah attorney general's office, Peggy Stone, argued that the case was about one student trying to fashion the curriculum to fit her beliefs.
"The question is whether a student at a public university can force changes in the curriculum," she told the judges.
One of the appeals court judges, David Ebel, said there were a number of U.S. Supreme Court cases ruling that individuals cannot be forced to speak against their conscience.
The judges seemed concerned that the student was forced to say words that violated her religious belief. "You told her to violate the second commandment to take God's name in vain," Appeals Court Judge Stephanie Seymour said.
Axson-Flynn is seeking a declaratory judgment that would say the university was wrong in trying to force her to use objectionable language and take the Lord's name in vain. She hopes to return to the university, she told reporters after the hearing at the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
The panel ordered both sides to file another brief within 10 days on what remedy the former student could receive. The university lawyer said the case could be moot because the student left school voluntarily.