YPSILANTI, Mich. — For Teresa Becker, selecting a field of study wasn't just an academic decision. It was a financial one as well.

A few months after declaring theology as her major, Becker received a letter from the State of Michigan informing her that she lost her Michigan Competitive Scholarship.

It was a decision that cost her almost $2,000 this school year.

“Any major but theology is okay,” said Becker, now a junior at Ave Marie College, a Catholic school in Ypsilanti, Mich. “It just doesn't make sense.”

She said the decision didn't force her to quit school, but it did require additional sacrifices.

“It's definitely urgent that I get a job,” she said. “Now I'm having to write thousand-dollar checks.”

The Thomas More Law Center, a law firm dedicated to religious freedom for Christians, has sued the State of Michigan on behalf of Becker, stating that she faced religious discrimination.

“We're confident we'll win, that the statutory restraint will be found unconstitutional and the state will be enjoined from discriminating against students who enroll in a program of study that results in a degree in theology, divinity or religious education,” said Patrick Gillen, the law center's attorney handling the case.

Current Michigan law prohibits funds from its Competitive Scholarship Program to go to students who elect those three courses of study.

The Thomas More Law Center filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Ann Arbor on Feb. 4, claiming that the exclusionary clauses violate Becker's rights to free speech and free exercise of religion guaranteed by the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

The Michigan Attorney General's Office refused comment because it has not yet seen the lawsuit.

Michigan inaugurated the scholarship program in 1964. An amendment prohibiting religion-related majors became law in 1980.

Gillen said the change was unconstitutional.

“The First Amendment was designed to prevent government from discriminating against citizens based on their religious activity and speech,” he said. “Michigan's decision to strip students of competitive scholarship funds if they choose to major in theology turns the First Amendment on its head and makes the state the enemy of religion.”

Becker had qualified for the aid based on her high school grade point average, ACT score and her academic progress in college. The initial scholarship was worth $2,750, but budget cuts reduced this year's award to $1,850.

Gillen hopes Michigan's program will be changed, just as similar programs in Kentucky and Washington were eliminated within the last year.

Six weeks after a lawsuit from the American Center for Law and Justice, state officials in Kentucky changed their policy on Jan. 23, allowing students with religion-based majors to continue receiving their scholarships.

“We're extremely pleased that the state of Kentucky is taking corrective action and changing the policy to remove discriminatory barriers that prohibit students who want to focus on religious studies from being eligible to receive state scholarship funds,” said Francis Manion, senior counsel for the center.

“It is encouraging that the state is moving to ensure that students who study religion are treated equally when it comes to the distribution of state funds,” he added. “Unfortunately, it took a federal lawsuit to bring about this change in policy.”

The American Center for Law and Justice filed the Kentucky suit on behalf of Michael Woods Nash, who lost his $2,900 scholarship from the Kentucky Educational Ex cellence Scholarship after he declared religion/philosophy as a major last October. Nash is a junior attending Cumberland College in Williamsburg, Ky.

In November, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a ruling that struck down a policy in Washington that excluded students who studied religion-based majors.

The American Center for Law and Justice brought that suit against Washington state on behalf of Joshua Davey, a student at Northwest College in Kirkland, Wash. When Davey chose pastoral ministry as a major, he lost his Washington Promise Scholarship, worth $2,600 over two years.

“It's time for the state of Washington to bring this case to a close,” said Stuart Roth, general counsel for the center, of the case. “If the state decides to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear this case, we're convinced that the decision declaring the state scholarship policy discriminatory will be upheld. It's time for the state to accept the facts — the policy is not only unconstitutional but also grossly unfair to the people of Washington state.”

Notre Dame law professor Richard Garnett said states are awakening to the constitutional dangers of these religious-based prohibitions.

“States will just lose like in Washington or they'll say, ‘It's just not worth it; let's get rid of it,’ like they did in Kentucky,” Garnett said. “I think the trajectory is positive.”

But he warned that religious-based schools could face another problem in the future.

“Wholly and apart from this case, there remains the concern that vouchers, scholarships and other state funding will be used as a vehicle for the intrusive regulation of religious schools,” he said.

It's possible, he said, religious universities or students who receive such aid could face legal problems if they receive state funding.

Father Richard John Neuhaus, publisher of First Things magazine, attributed the Bush administration with changing the tone of the debate over religion in public life.

“I think the whole set of initiatives put in place by the administration, with an accent on faith-based programs, have had an impact,” he said.

He said local and state governments had imposed on themselves a view of the separation of church and state that had “no basis in law.”

“Now the whistle has been blown. It's a powerful change,” he added. “It's belated. But much to be welcomed.”

Joshua Mercer writes from Washington, D.C.