A philosophy instructor at Brigham Young University has lost his job after publicly opposing a constitutional amendment that would forbid gay marriage, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

The instructor, Jeffrey Nielsen, wrote a column this month in the Tribune arguing that opposition to gay marriage is immoral. Four days later, he received a letter from the chairman of the philosophy department informing him that his teaching contract would not be renewed at the university, which is affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Mr. Nielsen, who not only teaches at a Mormon university but is Mormon himself, said he is concerned that he will be thrown out of the church as well.

The university has been on the American Association of University Professors’ list of administrations censured for violations of academic freedom and other faculty rights since 1998, even though the AAUP allows for limits on such rights at religious institutions (The Chronicle, June 26, 1998).