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Showing posts with the label higher education

Get on the Right Side of History or Die: An Open Challenge to Christian Higher Education

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Over and over again, the secular age of the 21st century presents Christians with a deadly logic: keep up or die. This requires the refashioning and remaking of Christian doctrine, theology, and convictions all in the name of cultural relevance—either get on the right side of history or you will be history. These kinds of arguments especially arise over issues of gender and sexuality. Just last week, this threat emerged in the form of an article at Religion News Service by David P. Gushee. The headline of the article read, “Christian Higher Ed Can’t Win the LGBTQ Debate Unless it Transforms.” Headlines can often tell us quite a bit about the author and his or her argument, and this headline is no different. Apparently, the headline indicates that there is a LGBTQ debate taking place within Christian institutions of higher learning and those institutions are losing the battle. The only hope for victory, according to Gushee, is to undergo theological transformation—or, to put it...

Student group demands mandatory ‘LGBT safe zone’ training for residential advisers

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Students interested in becoming residential advisers at Ohio State University should be forced to undergo training geared toward LGBT “inclusion,” according to a resolution passed last week by the student government. The body of undergraduate student leaders voted November 29 to recommend that all RAs be required to submit to “Safe Zone” training before interacting with students on their floors, student newspaper  The Lantern   reports . RAs are already required to take “Open Doors” training, which is about “bias” in general, but Safe Zone specifically “aims to create a more welcoming and more inclusive campus environment,” and better facilitate the “goal of supporting the diverse individuals and communities with minorized sexual and/or gender identities.” “We found a gap in safety for students because not every LGBT student has a resident advisor who knows about LGBT issues or is comfortable advocating for that student who needs help,” said Ose Arheghan,  the r...

University blacklists Chick-Fil-A over Christian ‘corporate values’

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  Chick-Fil-A  continues to thrive  across the country, but liberals in high places remain bent on punishing it for refusing to embrace same-sex “marriage.” Campus Reform   reports  that the popular chicken chain won a student survey of new meal options to bring to campus at private Rider University in New Jersey recently, but the powers-that-be dashed the student body’s hopes with an email claiming that the company’s “corporate values have not sufficiently progressed enough to align with those of Rider.” The Associated Press (AP)  adds  that the school cited the “company's record widely perceived to be in opposition to the LGBTQ community,” and claimed that while excluding the option of Chick-Fil-A could be seen as a “form of exclusion,” administrators believe it’s acting “faithful to our values of inclusion.” “It is important to me and to the University that all voices are heard,” Rider Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs Jan ...

LGBT hatred towards Christians is building fast

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Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, authored a bill, SB 1146, passed by the state Senate on Thursday that would make it more difficult for universities to get religious exemptions from anti-discrimination laws protecting LGBT individuals. Rich Pedroncelli The Associated Press Secular Press: The state Senate passed a bill Thursday that would make it more difficult for universities to get religious exemptions from anti-discrimination laws protecting LGBT individuals. The bill would affect more than 30 higher education institutions in California that currently have religious exemptions to federal or state anti-discrimination laws. It also requires universities receiving religious exemptions to disclose them. Currently, state exemptions are only available through a Freedom of Information Act request. The author of the bill , Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, said LGBT students and staff have been expelled from school or fired from their jobs based on their sexual orientation or gende...