Univ. of Iowa Student Christian Club Stands Their Ground In the Face of Distinct Discrimination
The campaign to sanitize all college campuses from anything that goes against the prescribed SJW norm is raging across America, and student groups are being faced with tough decisions: stand strong in their own beliefs and risk losing their group altogether, or bow to the god of political correctness and be allowed to continue.
Christian groups, as you can imagine, face particular discrimination, even when the mission of their organization has nothing to do with the more controversial aspects of the faith.
The Business Leaders in Christ club on the University of Iowa campus is one such group, who has refused to bend to the will of blatantly ideological university policies and have had to endure a lengthy court battle in the process.
The College Fix has the story:
“The University is discriminating against [us] because of our religious beliefs, while allowing other student groups to form around their shared values and beliefs,” Jacob Estell, a spokesman for Business Leaders in Christ, told The College Fix.
“We have not changed our mind or caved in to the University’s wishes,” Estell said.
The controversy began last year when the University of Iowa stripped Business Leaders in Christ of its official status after the group affirmed its religious beliefs to campus officials, including traditional Christian beliefs about sexuality and same-sex relationships.
Advertisement - story continues belowFollowing a court ruling in January that held that the school had unfairly discriminated against the Christian group, the university undertook a “scorched-Earth campaign” against student groups on campus, “deregistering any and all student clubs that has not signed its policy that requires the groups to open their membership — and leadership positions — to anyone, regardless of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Estell, the spokesman for the Christian group, told The Fix that his organization has “always included the anti-discrimination text in our Constitution.”
The right that Business Leaders in Christ reserves is to assure that their group members adhere to the group’s mission, and are chosen based on their ability to uphold the core beliefs of the group, same as any other group on campus does.
Can you imagine if the University of Iowa tried to force a pro-choice group to admit pro-life people to their leadership? There’d be a national outcry.
“Anyone is, and always has been, welcome to be a member of BLinC. We only ask that our leaders align with our mission, just like the Republican and Democratic student groups, the pro-life and pro-choice student groups, the fraternities and sororities, and every other group on campus does,” Estell explained.
Currently, the BLinC group has been allowed to continue to operate on campus following the order given to the school from a district court judge. The College Fix says their fate will be decided in court in March of 2019.
