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Christian group can bar gay student from leadership role, judge rules
NBC "News" ^ | February 7, 2019 | by AP

Posted on 02/07/2019 1:15:17 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer

IOWA CITY, Iowa - A federal judge has ruled that the University of Iowa was wrong to strip a Christian student group of its registered status after the organization barred a gay student from a leadership position.

U.S. District Judge Stephanie M. Rose on Wednesday granted a permanent injunction banning the university from rejecting the status of the group, Business Leaders in Christ, The Des Moines Register reported.

Rose found that the university had unevenly applied its human rights policy by allowing other groups to limit membership based on religious views, race, sex and other protected characteristics.

"Particularly when free speech is involved, the uneven application of any policy risks the most exacting standard of judicial scrutiny, which the defendants have failed to withstand," she said.

Business Leaders in Christ member Jake Estell said the group is happy with the outcome.

"This victory reinforces the commonsense idea that universities can't target religious groups for being religious," he said.

The university said it plans to adhere to the court's decision.

(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Iowa
KEYWORDS: 1stamendment; businessleaders; christianstudents; firstamendment; god; homosexualagenda; inchrist; liberty; rose; stephaniemrose; universityofiowa
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Obama appointee ...
1 posted on 02/07/2019 1:15:17 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Is there no such thing as a gay Christian?


2 posted on 02/07/2019 1:17:19 PM PST by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Perhaps the worm is beginning to turn.


3 posted on 02/07/2019 1:17:58 PM PST by fwdude (Think about it: Blacks were made slaves in Africa, but were made free men in America.)
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To: sparklite2
”Is there no such thing as a gay Christian?”

Sure, most Christians I know are very happy.

4 posted on 02/07/2019 1:22:48 PM PST by noiseman (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.`)
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To: sparklite2

“Is there no such thing as a gay Christian?”

Nope. I Corinthians 6:9-11:

“Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”


5 posted on 02/07/2019 1:25:30 PM PST by kaehurowing
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To: noiseman

So, why is this guy kicked out, then?


6 posted on 02/07/2019 1:26:26 PM PST by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: sparklite2

Is there no such thing as a gay Christian?
...............
Is this a trick question?


7 posted on 02/07/2019 1:26:47 PM PST by lurk
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
This decision will be overruled by an Obama appointee by 5PM (Hawaiian Standard Time) tomorrow.
8 posted on 02/07/2019 1:27:05 PM PST by Gay State Conservative (Mitt Romney: Bringing Massachusetts Values To The Great State Of Utah.)
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To: sparklite2
Not if he/she engages in sex.

When we claim to be followers of Christ, yet continue to commit unrepent sins, it’s a clue that we may not have fully given our lives to Christ.

People who deny sexual sins are sins, don’t genuinely desire to be followers of Christ.

Those aren’t my words but are the words of Jesus Christ.

9 posted on 02/07/2019 1:28:39 PM PST by zerosix (Native Sunflower)
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To: sparklite2
Is there no such thing as a gay Christian?

There are no *true* Christians who are *practicing* homosexuals.

10 posted on 02/07/2019 1:29:04 PM PST by Gay State Conservative (Mitt Romney: Bringing Massachusetts Values To The Great State Of Utah.)
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To: sparklite2

He was kicked out because he’s a sodomite, pervert, homosexual, peter-puffer, poofter, pickle-smoocher, rump ranger, turd burglar, queer, faggot, man who lies with mankind as with womankind ...

But you already knew that.


11 posted on 02/07/2019 1:30:58 PM PST by NorthMountain (... the right of the peopIe to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: lurk

I’m thinking there are a whole lot of church attending, believing gays who could be called Christian. If Christian is limited to non-sinners, that would be good to know, too.


12 posted on 02/07/2019 1:31:17 PM PST by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: NorthMountain

Well, no, I didn’t read that. But thanks for filling me in.


13 posted on 02/07/2019 1:32:58 PM PST by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: sparklite2

Is it possible to commit terrible sin even though one is a believer in Christ?

I think it is, but I also think that the sin must be admitted to be sin as contrary to God’s will and an impediment until it is repented of. Real repentance includes regret, confession, turning away from the sin, restitution, and a period of suspension from any leadership role in the church.


14 posted on 02/07/2019 1:34:49 PM PST by xzins (Retired US Army chaplain. Support our troops by praying for their victory.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

If they won’t allow homosexuals as leaders then why are they allowing them as members?


15 posted on 02/07/2019 1:35:56 PM PST by DoodleDawg
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To: sparklite2
I think you missed my little joke. To be serious, though, no truly Christian organization can permit any of their leaders to openly promote sin. That’s just fundamental.

It doesn’t mean that such a leader (or would-be leader, as in this case) should be shunned or treated in other than a fully loving manner, of course. But sin is kind of a big deal to God, seeing how death came into the world because of it, and how God himself had to die in our place in order to conquer it. The obvious response, of course, is “Well, everyone is a sinner and there are no perfect people, so why single out this guy just because he’s gay?”

The answer is that yes, every person is sinful in some (many) way(s), but the difference is that someone who is making homosexuality their identity is openly promoting sin, and no Christian organization should permit that. It would be no different than if a heterosexual leader made it clear that he was an adulterer, that it was his identity, and that he would continue committing adultery (and I can think of many other examples).

True Christians must acknowledge their sin, repent of it, and seek God’s forgiveness. Anyone who doesn’t do those three things, much less someone who flaunts sin as their “identity” is not a Christian, simple as that.

16 posted on 02/07/2019 1:36:20 PM PST by noiseman (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.`)
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To: xzins
Real repentance includes regret, confession, turning away from the sin, restitution, and a period of suspension from any leadership role in the church.

That is the opposite of "being gay" which is, by definition, a complete identification with the sin and a refusal to recognize it as sinful.

17 posted on 02/07/2019 1:38:56 PM PST by NorthMountain (... the right of the peopIe to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: xzins

That makes sense, thanks. There is an adjacent article on the forum entitled The Fourteen Catholic Senators Who Enabled Late Term Abortion. What do you want to bet they think they are Christians, too? I guess my thought is that to tell someone that are not Christian if they claim to be might be a judgment a little out of our jurisdiction.


18 posted on 02/07/2019 1:39:44 PM PST by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
It is a clear application of Freedom of Association. The United States Supreme Court held in NAACP v. Alabama (1958) that freedom of association is an essential part of freedom of speech because, in many cases, people can engage in effective speech only when they join with others. The Court decided in favor of the petitioners, holding that “Immunity from state scrutiny of petitioner's membership lists is here so related to the right of petitioner's members to pursue their lawful private interests privately and to associate freely with others in doing so as to come within the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment” and, further, that freedom to associate with organizations dedicated to the “advancement of beliefs and ideas” is an inseparable part of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

In general, freedom of association includes the right to be free from compelled association. In Wooley v. Maynard, 430 U.S. 705, 97 S. Ct. 1428, 51 L. Ed. 2d 752 (1977), and Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, 431 U.S. 209, 97 S. Ct. 1782, 52 L. Ed. 2d 261 (1977), the Court held that freedom of association is unconstitutionally burdened where the state requires an individual to support or espouse ideals or beliefs with which he or she disagrees. Similarly, in Keller v. State Bar, 496 U.S. 1, 110 S. Ct. 2228, 110 L. Ed. 2d 1 (1990), the Court held that mandatory state bar membership dues could not be used to further ideological causes with which some members might disagree, unless the state could show that the expenditures were incurred for the purpose of regulating the legal profession or improving the quality of legal service.

19 posted on 02/07/2019 2:05:13 PM PST by wildcard_redneck
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To: wildcard_redneck

“It is a clear application of Freedom of Association.”

The problem is the Supreme Court decided to do away with that right in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez. Sounds like the only reason the university got tagged here is it discriminated in unevenly applying the requirements to some organizations but not others.


20 posted on 02/07/2019 2:16:46 PM PST by kaehurowing
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