Posted on 06/29/2019 7:57:45 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
A major Evangelical college, Azusa Pacific University, recently experienced a series of institutional convulsions about one of the most controversial issues facing Christians today: homosexuality. As a case study, the events at APU illustrate just how complicated the topic is for Christianity in general and Christian universities in particular.
Let’s review. Before the fall 2018 semester, APU relaxed language in its school standard of conduct prohibiting romantic same-sex relationships. Soon afterward, however, the board of trustees announced that they had never approved the change. The school then reaffirmed its commitment to a traditional, “biblical and orthodox” understanding of marriage.
There was tremendous backlash from the student body. Senior Alexis Diaz, quoted in an article in the Huffpost, called the school’s management of the situation, “extremely unprofessional.” She also said, “If they didn’t approve it in the first place, where was the miscommunication in the middle? That’s really frustrating. You can’t say one thing and go back on your word. You lose the trust of students.” Diaz, who identifies as queer, felt like she’d been given a taste of freedom only to have it ripped away. Since the reversal, there have been numerous on-campus rallies and walk-outs to protest it.
On the other hand, another article in The Christian Post expressed undiluted support of the board’s decision. “The kind of conviction and clarity the Azusa Pacific board of trustees just showed will be a major qualification for Christian leadership in the years to come,” write John Stonestreet and G. Shane Morris, “Especially when the pressure comes not just from without, but from within.
Here we have, essentially, the two sides of the issue. Increasingly liberal student bodies are in favor of accepting their LGBTQ+ peers, seeing such acceptance as an expression of the gospel. However, a more conservative sector of the faith feels that the only way to be a Christian without compromise is to denounce homosexuality in all its forms.
In the meantime, the question remains: What should Christian universities do?
There are a few different ways for them to respond. Christian ethicist David Gushee, in his book Changing Our Minds, says that there are three options for Christian churches and institutions.
* Reaffirm their commitment to the traditional Biblical interpretation that heterosexuality is the only morally acceptable sexuality for a human to have.
* Keep their heads down, neither endorsing nor rejecting the LGBTQ+ community.
* Rethink their stance on Christian sexuality.
APU, clearly, went with option one. “God’s perfect will and design for humankind,” the board said, is “the biblical understanding of the marriage covenant as between one man and one woman. Outside of marriage, He calls His people to abstinence.”
Option one has some pros and cons. It placates APU’s donor base and conservative voices like commentator Rod Dreher, who initially claimed the university had “surrendered” its core conservative values.
However, option one also alienates students from administration, leaving students feeling unheard and devalued. The divide between many millennial and older Christians is clear here. A 2014 Pew Research Center survey found that 51 percent of Millennial Evangelical Protestants (those born between 1981-96) believe that homosexuality should be accepted. That number drops to one-third of evangelical Baby Boomers, and one-fifth of evangelicals ages 76 to 93.
As an added complication, there is also Title IX. Title IX of the Higher Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination, on the basis of sex, “under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” This statement has been interpreted to extend to gender identity, which means that it’s possible that Christian colleges will lose federal funding in upcoming years if they maintain unequivocal condemnation of people on the LGBTQ+ spectrum. This is a serious concern, since most Christian colleges receive 40 to 60 percent of their budget from federal funding, according to the chief financial officer at Wheaton College.
As for the question, “What should Christian colleges do?” goes, clearly, there’s much to consider. The stakes are high since the spiritual and emotional wellbeing of students is at stake.
As a recent graduate of Azusa Pacific University, I’m especially invested in the question. It makes me think about compromise, conversation and what Christian values should be. I’m not an authority on the subject, and I don’t have an answer.
I just have a wish: that the rift created between administration and students by unequivocal policy decisions about homosexuality would be taken seriously, as seriously as the moral, financial and Biblical issues. I’ve personally witnessed students develop disdain for professors and university officials over the topic of homosexuality, and vice versa. There are wounds and biases that run deep. Since Christian education values spiritual as well as educational growth, conversation between students and faculty is crucial.
But the topic of homosexuality is a sensitive one, so conversation about it tends to get shut down or quickly become hostile. Whatever their other policies, I hope Christian universities also take significant steps to encourage dialogue and foster mutual understanding, since this is where the best learning occurs.
“one of the most controversial issues facing Christians today: homosexuality”
Once you perceive it as controversial, you’ve already left Christianity behind.
“leaving students feeling unheard and devalued“
So what?
It sounds as though this student thinks he gets to decide what Christian values are, or that men decide such issues.
There is nothing to consider. If you call yourself Christian, then you hold to Christian tenets of faith, regardless of the sniveling of ‘queer’ students. You might lose a few clients/ students, but you will save your soul and actually stand for something
Good grief, such equivocating on something so straightforwards. “In the beginning God created them, male and female He created them.’
The solution is simple. Hate the sin, love the sinner.
And don't just blame "leftists". Big banks, major corporations, and some of the richest men in the world want to promote sodomy. And child rape. And grooming little boys for castration.
By the standards of as recently as ten years ago, it's beyond any conservatives' most paranoid imaginings.
Exactly - if you think it’s up for debate, you’re not Christian and you’ve lost the argument. Doesn’t matter how many/ how old-young they are. And who exactly interprets Title IX as meaning ‘homosexual’?? Although Hillsdale College’s bold example of NOT taking federal money comes to mind.
Well, get through Romans 1:21-32. That just about covers it.
Bingo.
Bump
Stop taking federal money. Charge less for school. Shrink bloated budgets. Believe Gods word is true.....the practicing queers and other practicing sinners who dont believe Gods word is true will leave. Christian schools are not in the business of appeasing u.s. government or students on issues plainly delineated in Gods Word. There is a cost or persecution to following God.Look at the condition of the world. The world hates God and you if you believe and act on your belief of Gods truth. Any questions?
Agreed!
[[In the meantime, the question remains: What should Christian universities do? ]]
Why is this even a question? IF you are a TRUE Christian university- you condemn deviant sexual practices, premarital sex, fornication- all that stuff- period-
[[“leaving students feeling unheard and devalued“]]
This isn’t about their delicate precious feelings, this is about OBEYING God’s word!. IF You don’t want to obey God’s word- go to a non christian school- OR a FAKE Christian school- IF You are having a problem obeying God’s word, but wish to- then confess you SIN and deal with it- and turn from it! Stop trying to force Christian institutions to DISOBEY God’s word because of your deviant sexual preferences-
None other need explaining. To those who disagree, they are free at all times to take it up to God.
Interesting isn’t it that no seems to disagree on stealing and lying but when it comes to murdering the unborn and especially God’s utterances against the abomination of homosexuality, there seems to be worldwide affirmation that God doesn’t really hate it.
If that were the case then why did He strongly warn His people to flee Sodom and Gomorrah, not even to look back as He obliterated both!
“For their women exchanged their natural function for an unnatural and abnormal one,
And the men also turned from natural relations with women and were set ablaze (burning out, consumed) with lust for one another—men committing shameful acts with men and suffering in their own bodies and personalities the inevitable consequences and penalty of their wrong-doing and going astray, which was [their] fitting retribution.”
(New Testament, Romans 1:26,27)
I worked with a new graduate from Azusa 10 years ago. She was a full-blown heretic on the issue.
The Frankfurt School infiltrated these institutions decades ago.
Choose this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
End of discussion.
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