For years, Christian organizations have openly wondered how long it
would be before a homosexual or homosexual-rights group attempted to
gain entrance into their organizations. As the Boy Scouts battle for
their right to define who may -- and may not -- serve as leaders in
their association, this scenario has given religious conservatives cause
to believe we could face a similar battle very soon.
That scenario may have actually already arrived in Medford, Mass.,
the site of a contentious debate over a Christian group's right to
define the lifestyle of their leaders.
TRENDING: To DEI for
Tufts student Julie Catalano, an openly-"bisexual" member of the
Tufts Christian Fellowship, recently sought a leadership position in
that group. However, fellowship leaders turned her down because her
belief that homosexual acts are not biblically wrong countered their
core belief.
As a result, leaders of a Tufts student government panel have now
ruled that the fellowship's policy violates the school's
anti-discrimination policy. The Christian group has subsequently been
stripped of its name and about $6,000 in annual funding from student
fees. In addition, they are forbidden from meeting in campus
classrooms.
It appears that biblical morality is now a costly conviction.
The TCF, with about 65 members, has not met since the Tufts Community
Union Judiciary's April 13 decision.
"This is political correctness gone awry," Thor Halvorssen of the
Philadelphia-based Freedom for Individual Rights in Education, told the
Associated Press. "They're asking a fundamentalist Christian group to
stop being fundamentalist Christians." Ms. Catalano, 20, said TCF
leaders told her that homosexuality was a product of man's "brokenness"
and she could change with prayer. She said she prayed for two years
before deciding she could not change. Additionally, she claims she
explored different biblical interpretations and eventually decided
homosexuality was not a sin.
I wonder if she ever read Romans, chapter 1. I don't say this to be
smug, but the Bible unequivocally teaches us -- in many passages -- to
avoid sexual sin.
When she told TCF leaders she intended to begin dating females, Ms.
Catalano was told she could not assume a leadership position. However,
group members continue to lend her spiritual support and do not want to
expel her.
Nevertheless, members of the group say they should be able to adopt
biblically-based rules of behavior for leaders of their organization.
But the politically-correct mentality that is pervading American college
campuses finds this a dangerous proposition. In this morally ambiguous
age, rules requiring principled behavior are not only foreign to many
college administrations -- they are downright hostile to their blurred
and hazy policies.
However, there are victims of this moral haziness. In this case, it
is a group of devoted young people who are facing astonishing
persecution. They have been set apart from the entire campus and
branded as undesirable. "When you ask us to give up the Bible, you're
asking us to give up the heart of our religion," Curtis Chang, chaplain
of the TCF, stated.
Tufts officials have cowardly said they will not interfere in the
case because the decision was made by a student organization and is
being appealed within the student government. TCF students say they do
not expect the administration to support them. "The broader problem is
that the politically correct left now relies far more on coercion than
on persuasion or moral appeal," said John Leo in U.S. News & World
Report. "The long-term trend is to depict dissent from the gay
agenda as a form of illegitimate and punishable expression." Leo sagely
noted, "If this precedent means that no group can deny a leadership
position on the basis of beliefs, then scientific groups would have to
accept flat-Earth leaders and Hillel would have to accept leaders who
say the Holocaust never happened. More immediate, if administrators or
courts don't step in to restore sanity, many religious groups across the
country will become vulnerable. Catholics, Muslims, Orthodox Jews,
black Pentecostals -- as well as evangelicals -- do not approve of
homosexuality."
That is a frightening scenario but we can literally witness the
building blocks for this agenda being stacked against us. Our
biblically-founded beliefs have been apparently determined to be
dangerous and valueless.
This is far from a singular issue, as represented by similar
instances on many American college campuses. Two recent examples stand
out.
Presently, Middlebury (Vermont) College, is debating whether it will
require a Christian group to appoint gays to hold leadership posts. In
addition, Grinnell (Iowa) College last year banned a student group that
has a Bible-based policy stating that only married heterosexuals should
have sexual relations.
In other areas of the country, biblical phrases are being expelled
from state mottoes, the Ten Commandments are ruled inappropriate for
baseball fields, young people are told they cannot distribute religious
pamphlets to their classmates, NASA officials tell employees they may
not use company e-mail to send out National Day of Prayer messages to
co-workers, and people of faith in the workplace are frequently
persecuted -- and even fired -- for voicing their biblically-based
beliefs. The list of offenses against religious persons in our nation
is virtually endless!
It is evident that our nation has declared all-out war on people of
faith and it is an ugly, frightening thing to behold.