Judgment Day for Christians who actually believe
Followers of Jesus booted for following Jesus
Published: 11 hours ago
The fight apparently isn’t over, but for now, Christians in the Chi Alpha organization have been allowed to return to campuses in the California State University system.
According to officials with the Becket Fund, which worked on the fight, the student organizations were kicked off several campuses because as Christian groups, they required their leaders to be Christian.
The university said with that restriction, they would not be allowed on campus, and, in fact, locked them out of the space the members had reserved to use.
But they’ve returned now, after the college admission that the group’s don’t have to pick leaders that are non-Christian – they just have to let them be candidates.
The Becket Fund said the Christian student club had been around for years, choosing to call themselves by the Greek letters that stand for “Christ’s Ambassadors.”
Then the university pulled their permission to meet, citing the group’s requirement that those who lead worship and Bible study share Christian beliefs.
That, the school said, was “religious discrimination.”
Its parent group is Chi Alpha National, a division of the Assemblies of God, which is one of the 10 largest churches in the U.S. It has nearly 30,000 students in its programs.
See what American education has become, in “Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America’s Children.”
Becket reported, “Their Christian faith is what unites them and motivates them to serve. And while Chi Alpha membership is open to any student, Chi Alpha asks that the students that lead its worship services and teach its Bible studies actually believe its Christian message.”
The organization explained when the dispute erupted, “Today at Cal State, the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance can (and should be allowed to) require its leaders to be feminists. The Young Democrats can (and should be allowed to) require their president to be a Democrat. And frats can require their leaders to be men. But neither Chi Alpha – nor any other religious group – can require its leaders to believe in the message the group exists to teach.”
Earlier this year, Chi Alpha dispatched a letter demanding reinstatement, and after a change in the college’s position, four chapters have returned to various campuses.
After months of negotiations, the Cal State chancellor’s office agreed that while religious student groups couldn’t require all leadership candidates to share their faith, students were free to select leaders whose lives and beliefs reflected their group’s message.
“For religious students, groups like Chi Alpha are a place of refuge. It’s just common sense – and basic liberty – for religious groups to be led by students who share their faith,” Adèle Auxier Keim, legal counsel, said in a statement released by the Becket Fund.
The organization noted, “Chi Alpha still has fewer rights than fraternities and faces an unfair burden on its ministry, but its students can once again take their place as a recognized part of campus.”
“Cal State has adopted a halfway solution that still gives fraternities more rights than campus religious groups. But they’ve acknowledged that students can vote for a candidate who shares their beliefs, and that’s a step in the right direction,” said Keim.
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http://www.wnd.com/2015/11/judgment-day-for-christians-who-actually-believe/#yPSO313BdTXDw5uf.99
