A small, private Christian graduate school filed suit in federal court Friday alleging that the state Department of Education, Superintendent of Public Instruction Bill Honig and other state administrators have violated its constitutional rights by withdrawing its license to issue master's degrees.

In a 23-page complaint filed in U. S. District Court in San Diego, attorneys for the Institute for Creation Research in Santee alleged that Honig and his department have deprived the school of freedom of speech, free exercise of religion and due process. The suit seeks an injunction against the state for withdrawing its approval, unspecified damages and court costs.

"The question is not what view of origins is correct," the suit says, "but whether a private institution may be forced to indoctrinate its students in the state-approved interpretation and to censor an alternative interpretation."

In March, after a state Board of Education evaluation team recommended that state approval be removed, Honig denied approval to the institute to grant master's of science degrees. Since then, administrators at the institute have accused Honig of being a "religious bigot."

"If the state can tell a private Christian school that they can't teach Christian doctrine, then the state has too much power," said John Morris, administrative vice president of the institute. "We're not asking the state to rule that creationism is the valid scientific interpretation, and we're not asking for inclusion of creationism in the public schools. We are asking for freedom of speech."

Morris and others claim that Honig's aim is to shut down the institute, which adheres to a strict biblical interpretation of the creation of the Earth and life on it. The institute has granted about 20 master's degrees in biology, geology, physics and science education since 1981.

But William L. Rukeyser, special assistant to Honig, disputed that claim.

"ICR's continued existence is not at question. Nobody is trying to shut down ICR," said Rukeyser, who had not yet seen the lawsuit. "But we cannot legally describe ICR's current curriculum as qualifying for a master's of science degree. . . . If they wish to grant master's of creationism degrees, that would be fine with (Honig). If they want to describe it as a degree in a system of beliefs, that would be fine.