Barring Caste Discrimination is Not Anti-Hindu

Last week, a federal district judge ruled against two California State University professors who claimed the university’s policy barring discrimination on the basis of caste violates the U.S. Constitution’s ban on religious establishments. Huh? What the professors’ lawsuit alleged was that by identifying (and prohibiting) caste-based discrimination, Cal State singled out Hinduism for disfavor and took an official position on what Hinduism means, in violation of the First Amendment’s establishment clause. Judge R. Gary Klausner decided that neither was the case.