A story just appeared in the news that Rollins College in Florida voted to cut off funds for the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship for a discriminatory policy that it observes: Rollins College has determined that a Christian student organization is in violation of the school’s nondiscrimination policy because the group requires its leaders to be followers of Christ.
This strikes one as a Captain Obvious moment, as anyone with an ounce of common sense could understand the ICF’s reasoning. These stories show up every so often where a Christian group at some college or university is attacked for not wanting to admit members who don’t share Christian beliefs. Of course, nowhere in these discussions is why on Earth anyone who is not a Christian would have any interest in joining such a group, other than destroying the group’s purpose. Lawsuits to defend the groups get filed, but outside of the Conservasphere (Fox News, Drudge, various blogs, etc) these attacks get ignored in the media. Personally, I think that fighting the universities is exactly the wrong approach, as the schools are being allowed to define the battleground and small student groups are forced to defend themselves against their massive, deep pocketed attackers. I see a better way to counter them.
Give up. Agree to everything that the university demands and allow people of any view to join or become an officer in your group. Then stop attending your meetings, since the purpose of your group has been removed by intolerant leftists. OK, so far I know that this doesn’t sound too appealing. But now comes the fun part.
Find another group on campus and co-opt them in the same way that the university is insisting that you allow your group to be. Even better, make it some leftist group – any LGBT, feminist, or junior versions of NAACP or La Raza would be good. I’m guessing that these groups won’t be too receptive to the idea of admitting members that don’t share their vision, but that would be discriminatory. Or how about the beauty of a LGBT group whose officers are all devout Christians who begin mandating that every group meeting start with a prayer? The existing members are free to complain to the university, but standards are standards. If the university wants to stop such takeovers they will have to re-evaluate their own policies, or at least come clean about their own bigotry. As an added bonus, now instead of these larvae for various professional grievance groups wasting time looking for something to be angry about to justify their existence now they’re spending their energy defending their own positions – a win-win!
Actually, all of this sounds like a real waste of time and a pain in the neck to bother with. We could just all respect other people’s views and have an adult conversation, but if that were the case none of this would have started in the first place, now would it?
Cross posted from Brother Bob’s Blog
A few years ago when the MSU (Muslim Students Union) was a legal campus organization at University of CA at Irvine there also was a non-denominational Prayer Room on that campus.
The MSU first tried to take it over just a few times each day for their prayers.
Then they partitioned it by sex.
Next they tried to impose that sex partition on other students who came in to pray at other times.
Finally they took it over 100% and prevented all other students from ever entering.
That is NOT why they were made an illegal campus organization, however.
In fact the campus police used to help them ”get rid” of non-Muslims who tried to pray in the campus non-denominational Prayer Room.
When they went afoul of the laws regarding terrorism fund raising they were put off campus…..not before.
Nothing to do with their treatment of students of other religions on campus.
A big difference Nan is that Rollins is a PRIVATE entity, not a state school. This “outrage” is about as heavy as that deserved by christian schools who keep people out because of their beliefs. Rollins is best known for its #1 ranking by US News and World Report.
@Nan G: Thanks for the reminder — as I was reading Bro Bob’s essay — it dawned on me to reply that he may not understand what is really going on here — try infiltrating a moslem group, black group or La Raza and see how that goes — the groups will not need any help from “legitimate??” authorities — but of course if they should ask — they would be fully upheld —
It seems like this happens a lot everywhere you go. I am currently a student at a University where this situation has occurred numerous times, and every time it does it really bothers me. Why can’t we all just get along? We don’t have to share opinions, but we should be able to respect each other’s opinions.
@Nan G: These are exactly the groups that we need to go on the attack against. It’s just a shame that it took that long.
@John: My apologies in advance if I’m misinterpreting your comment, but are you suggesting that such discimination is acceptable because Rollins is a private college?
@ Budvarakbar: I have a pretty good idea of how infiltrating one of these groups would go. And that’s exactly my point. If the reception is anything less than welcoming it’s time to start complaining about these groups and their discriminatory practices. Let’s shift the battle to their field.
@ James Petzke: I couldn’t agree more that it would be great if we could all treat one another with respect. If the last election should have taught you anything, the left’s “Divide and hate” strategy is here to stay. This is nothing new; I remember some junk like this in my undergrad days 20 years ago. As obnoxious and immature as this approach is, if our groups have to be destroyed I say it’s better to do the same to the left’s groups than to allow them to take over while ours get swept aside. Maybe when they feel some pain they’ll start to see the stupidity of their positions and leave our side in peace.
James: with progressives it is never about respecting other opinions…it is about thought control. Free speech and rights for me but not for thee.
It’s just how it is.
@VoteOutIncumbents:
That’s why I can’t call myself a progressive anymore (I woke up to their BS), these so called progressives and liberals hijacked those terms. And bonus points to thee sir for the for me but not thee part, loved it.