Welcoming different viewpoints and beliefs is said to be one of the crowning glories of the modern university. Unless of course, your viewpoints and beliefs happen to be Christian.
Sadly, back in 2010, the Supreme Court laid the groundwork for a disturbing trend that is spreading to campuses nationwide. In the case Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, little noted at the time, the high court ruled that a public college may refuse to recognize a student organization if it restricts membership or leadership to students who share the group’s core beliefs.
In other words, campus student organizations like InterVarsity or Campus Crusade now run the risk of being kicked off campus if they say that only Christian students may hold leadership positions. The Court ruling says, in effect, that Christian groups must allow people who hold non-Christian beliefs into leadership ranks.
Yes, this is happening across the country. My college (Williams) has forced the Williams Christian Fellowship to change its constitution to allow homosexual leaders.
http://chaplain.williams.edu/information/background-regarding-campus-religious-groups-and-issues-of-sexuality-march-2011-3/
Re # 1
They should have voted to disband themselves.
“As a result, the College will be considering ways to ensure that the policies and practices of student groups, especially regarding membership and leadership, are articulated clearly and reflect the College’s non-discrimination commitments. As part of that effort, Campus Life staff will work with College Council to provide guidelines for student groups.”
Discrimination in the name of non-discrimination. Yet the University is doing what it prohibited the student organizations from doing, that is accept those who believe in it’s core principles and reject those who don’t. 2. is right the group should have disbanded and/or moved off campus.
The secular social agenda of the far-left has been accepted on many college campuses as the ‘revealed truth’ as ‘revealed’ by a relatively view revered secular leaders.
This secular ‘revealed truth’ is considered to be superior to the revealed Word of God even though the ‘revealing’ secular prophets are very often seriously fault-ridden and/or obsessive in their thinking. And they nmost assuredly have no claim to divinity.
For an arch-typical secular prophet, think back to Timothy Leary in the 1960s.
Anyhow, what has coalesced around these secular prophets(?) is a belief system that has the characterisitics of a an unyeldingly fanatic religious belief system.
An accretive part, accretted from radical communinism and national socialism, of this fanatic secular religion is a total intolerance toward all who would think and or believe differently from its human-derived secular ‘thruths.’
##2 and 3– I actually agree with you regarding disbanding. But the Christian presence at Williams has been weak for a very long time. When I was going there, there was not even a Christian students group, other than the Newman Society for Catholics (which itself then was quite liberal). So I am not particularly surprised that they folded so easily. I am more surprised that InterVarsity, of which they were a chapter, went along. Perhps they had to largely cut ties with InterVarsity as well, which is somewhat implied in the announcement.
I’m curious, Kendall, if you’re reading this, what is the situation at your daughter’s college, which, from your descriptions, seemed to be quite similar in feel, size and quality to Williams? Kenyon, wasn’t it?