Geneva College, a Christian institution in Pennsylvania, is suing the state and federal governments after being told that it could not post job openings on a state Web site called CareerLink. The site, which is financed in part by money from the U.S. Department of Labor and is bound by federal anti-discrimination rules, accepts postings only for jobs open to anyone, but the college — which describes itself as “committed to and rooted in a Reformed Christian worldview” — sought to hire only Christians.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the college’s lawsuit was filed last Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. It alleges that the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry and its federal counterpart are violating the college’s rights to free expression and free exercise of religion. Two organizations — the Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law & Religious Freedom and the Alliance Defense Fund — filed the lawsuit on Geneva’s behalf. “What we’re seeking here is to level the playing field,” said Timothy J. Tracey, a lawyer with the Christian Legal Society.

A staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is not involved in the lawsuit, said it puts the state “between a rock and a hard place.” The lawyer, Sara Rose, added: “For Geneva College to say it needed to advertise for a position on a state-funded Web site in order to practice its religion is far-fetched.”