By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--December 13, 2017
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The university stripped The Business Leaders in Christ of their status on campus after a member claimed he was denied a leadership position for being openly gay. The group, however, says the member was rejected because “he expressly stated that he rejected BLinC’s religious beliefs and would not follow them.” “Members should conduct their careers without the greed, racism, sexual immorality and selfishness that all too often arise in business, political, and cultural institutions,” a portion of group's statement of faith says. University of Iowa spokesperson Anne Bassett issued a statement to Fox News accusing BLinC of violating the school's Human Rights Policy and the Iowa Civil Rights Act. "...When a voluntary student organization chooses to become a registered student organization, it must adhere to the mission of the university, the UI’s policies and procedures, and all local, state, and federal laws," said Bassett, who also emphasized the school's 20 religious student organizations on campus and "the worship opportunities in the surrounding community."
As a de-registered student group, BLinC no longer receives funding or access to university facilities enjoyed by the other 500 student groups. To get back in the school's good graces, BLinC would have to amended its statement of faith and submit an “acceptable plan” for selecting leaders. “This is 2017, not 1984,” BLinC student president, Jacob Estell, said. “Our beliefs weren’t made by us, and they can’t be changed by us either -- certainly not just to satisfy Orwellian government rules.”There's the obvious question here of why you'd want to be part of a Christian organization if you're openly gay, since you've made a decision via your lifestyle to reject biblical morality. I would seriously question whether the member in question is a Christian at all, and I would suspect he only joined the group and sought a leadership position for the purpose of being "discriminated" against so he would have a pretext for filing a complaint. I don't know that, but it has that feel to it. But let's step back and examine the broader principle here. What the University of Iowa has done is establish that agreement with certain ideas is mandatory if you want to be an officially recognized student group, and support for homosexual sex is one of those non-negotiables. As such, that puts every Bible-believing Christian on the outs by definition. There are ways to get around it, of course. You can claim to be OK with homosexuality in order to avoid the hassle. You can claim that your particular brand of Christianity doesn't accept what the Bible clearly says on this one matter. Or you can pretend that being a Christian has nothing to do with the Bible and it's just all about being chill and non-judgmental, man.
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