Southern Illinois University has this *crazy* rule that says campus groups cannot discriminate against potential members. An African-American group cannot say no to a white person joining, a feminist group cannot say no to a male joining… you get the idea.
But when a Christian group says no to a gay student joining, that’s ok. They are exempt from the rules.
An article about the issue appeared in the Chicago Tribune.
For the record, SIU said no to the club’s recognition, but the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals forced them to reinstate the group as the pending lawsuit is still being resolved.
What is this group? According to SIU’s website:
“The Christian Legal Society is a national network of law students and lawyers who integrate faith, law, service and ethics. We address current issues, strive for spiritual growth and accountability, seek to reach out to the community, and strive to follow Jesus Christ in all things.”
Clearly, that is code for “No gays.”
It’s sad that groups like this believe that one’s sexual orientation is more important than the idea that someone wants to be closer to Christ. It seems to go again the ultimate goal of the group.
The group claims they’re not discriminating again the student’s orientation but rather on his religious beliefs. Because as we all know, no gay people are allowed to be Christian…
They also say that they would exclude anyone who has sex outside of marriage as well as those who support that practice. I have no idea how they would find this information out… but I would imagine this rule is not enforced as passionately as the no-gay rule is.
It’s one thing to have your beliefs on pre-marital sex or homosexuality. But you would hope that a “Christian Legal Society” of all groups would be eager to talk about those issues and debate them instead of avoiding the whole situation as if their minds were already made up.
At least you never see atheist groups doing something like this.
[tags]Christian Legal Society, Southern, Illinois, University, SIU, gay[/tags]