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James Innell Packer, better known to many as J. I. Packer, was one of the most famous and influential evangelical leaders of our time. He died Friday, July 17, at age 93. J. I. Packer was born in a village outside of Gloucester, England, on July 22, 1926. He came from humble stock, being born into a family that he called lower middle class. The religious climate at home and church was that of nominal Anglicanism rather than evangelical belief in Christ as Savior (something that Packer was not taught in his home church). Packer’s life-changing childhood experience came at...

A federal judge has ruled that the University of Iowa cannot force its InterVarsity Christian Fellowship chapter to allow for non-Christian student leaders. U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie M. Rose issued a ruling last Friday that allowed for InterVarsity to continue to choose its leadership based on religious parameters rather than conform to the University’s anti-discrimination policy, known as the Human Rights Policy. The ruling stipulated that the University “may not enforce the University’s Human Rights Policy against InterVarsity based on the content of InterVarsity’s leadership selection policies.” This came under the conditions that the University continues to unevenly apply...

Another student-led group is suing a university because the school kicked the group off campus for requiring student leaders to agree with their faith tenets. The University of Iowa told InterVarsity Christian Fellowship they weren’t allowed to hold their meetings on campus because they require their members to hold to specific faith standards and kicked them out — in response, InterVarsity sued. The University of Iowa did the same thing last year with Business Leaders in Christ, or BLinC. This kind of blatant discrimination — one that infringes on religious freedom via the pretense of protecting other kids’ feelings —...

(Skip) “Most evangelical Christians like me exclaimed, ‘Who are these people?’” wrote Mark Galli, the editor in chief of Christianity Today, in his essay. “‘I know hardly anyone, let alone any evangelical Christian[s], who voted for Trump.’” In trying to understand Trump-supporting evangelicals, journalists and commentators have often smoothed over the vast diversity within evangelicalism. “Many of us shake our heads at the ‘evangelical leaders’ that the news media anoints for us,” wrote Tom Lin, the president of InterVarsity Fellowship, in his essay. (Skip) Fundamentalism, argued Mark Labberton, the president of Fuller Theological Seminary, is the driving force behind the...

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is one of the leading campus ministries, and its publishing arm, InterVarsity Press, is one of the top Christian publishers. But this fine ministry is learning the hard way that, when it comes to homosexuality, you cannot straddle the fence. In a moment, I’ll explain exactly why I say that InterVarsity has tried to straddle the fence when it comes to homosexuality, but first, here’s the relevant background.Last week, InterVarsity announced “that it will begin dismissing employees who disagree with its theological stance on human sexuality starting on November 11.” As reported on The Atlantic, “Rather than...

Earlier today a federal appeals court handed down an important ruling that protects the liberties of religious organizations. . . . . According to the court opinion, Alyce Conlon worked at InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA (IVCF) in Michigan as a spiritual director, involved in providing religious counsel and prayer. She informed IVCF that she was contemplating divorce, . . . When Conlon’s marital situation continued to worsen despite counseling efforts, IVCF terminated her employment. Although IVCF is not a church, the court recognized that as a Christian organization, whose purpose is to advance the understanding and practice of Christianity in colleges...

A disturbing story came and went, barely noticed a few weeks ago. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is being unceremoniously booted off the campuses of California's 23 state universities. This begins with a process of "derecognizing" these as legitimate campus groups. Why? Though everyone is welcome at their ministry events, ICVF reserves leadership only for those committed to their goals and creed, just as a homosexual group would presumably reserve leadership for gays or those who affirm its pro-gay agenda. Or a Muslim group for Muslims. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is a network of campus ministries. It is evangelical in orientation and has...

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, an inter-denominational student ministry that builds communities across campuses in the U.S., revealed that one of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing was involved with their organization. Chinese national Lingzi Lu, 23, was one of the three people who lost their lives in last week's twin blasts that rocked the Boston Marathon, which also injured more than 170 others. "(Lu) was involved with the international student ministry we have at Boston University. She attended a retreat that we sponsored last fall. She was friends with people in the InterVarsity International Student ministry with the graduate and...

Georgetown University has banned outside Protestant ministries from holding on-campus events and using the school's name, prompting group leaders to question whether the prestigious Catholic school is restricting religious choice. "All we're wanting is diversity," said Kevin Offner, a staff leader for InterVarsity Graduate Christian Fellowship. "We're simply saying, 'Can't we worship and conduct our meetings in a way appropriate to our tradition?' And it feels like [Georgetown is] saying 'no.' " In a letter last week to leaders of the campus's Affiliated Ministries, the Rev. Constance C. Wheeler, a Georgetown Protestant chaplain, said that "as a result of our...

InterVarsity students at Central College in Pella, Iowa, started praying at the beginning of the spring semester and haven’t stopped. More than 2,400 consecutive hours have been logged by shifts of students in a prayer room set up in the student union. “It demands sacrifice and perseverance, both of which can all too often be lacking in students,” said campus staff member Jon Hietbrink. But not only have the 75 students involved deepened their devotional lives, but they have also drawn closer together through the experience. And it’s influenced those around them. “We coordinated our 24-7 prayer movement with a...

Posted on Tue, Mar. 16, 2004 Bush's openness about religion connects with American youthBY DAVID TARRANTThe Dallas Morning News DALLAS - (KRT) - Early in his campaign for the presidency four years ago, George W. Bush was asked in a Republican debate which political philosopher he most admired.He replied: Jesus Christ "because he changed my heart."At the time, his answer caused a stir. Christian conservatives cheered, but political experts wondered whether his response was wise, or perhaps less than presidential.Today, as he campaigns for a second term, the president's unabashed candor about his faith is hitting the mark among...

I know it is all true. I am a college student and deal with often in my classes. My best friend and I go to two different schools and hear this type of stuff from our teachers almost everyday. It is like they are trying to make all of their students liberal and leftist without giving any fairness to the right views (it is called right for a reason, oh yeah and they are called Jackasses for a reason). This is so innapropriate in a classroom situation. If conservatives were doing this the liberals would have a field day and...

Members of several religious student groups said this week they believe the lawsuit Maranatha Christian Fellowship recently filed against the University is unfounded. Maranatha filed a lawsuit Oct. 24 claiming the University violated the First Amendment by requiring student groups to sign an Equal Opportunities Statement. “I think Maranatha is entitled to its opinions and determining who they want in their group, but I think that if they do want to be recognized as a University group, they have to abide by the University policy,” said Amy Olson, executive director of Hillel, the University’s Jewish student center. When organizations register...

Is it reasonable for a university to insist that campus Christian groups accept non-Christian or anti-Christian students as group leaders? Ask a hundred ordinary Americans and you would very likely get 99 or 100 noes. Ask Rutgers University, though, and you'd get an answer that would earn a summa cum laude for political correctness. In September, Rutgers banned a Christian group from using campus facilities and stripped the group of university funding because it selects leaders on the basis of religious belief. Rutgers is punishing the InterVarsity Multi-Ethnic Christian Fellowship for violating the university's nondiscrimination policy. That policy states that...

After several weeks of silence, Chancellor James Moeser has now responded to my recent charge (see “The Campus Crusade Against Christ (revisited)”) that university administrators have been involved in an “unconstitutional assault on religious organizations at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.” His form response to Townhall.com readers follows: Thanks for sharing your views as a result of a recent Internet commentary about the university and an issue involving student organizations with religious affiliations that is some six months old and has been satisfactorily resolved. Permit me to provide some additional background information. I think you will be...

I would urge everyone reading this column, whether they are a Christian, a conservative, or simply a firm believer in our constitutional democracy to do two things without delay. First, read every word of this editorial carefully. Second, take the time to e-mail Chancellor James Moeser (james_moeser@unc.edu) demanding appropriate personnel changes necessary to end the unconstitutional assault on religious organizations at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.I first wrote about the issue of anti-Christian bigotry on college campuses last July in an editorial entitled "The Campus Crusade Against Christ." The editorial attempted to draw attention to the hypocrisy...

Ads target campus 'anti-Christian bigotry' Legal group seeks to 'end the intimidation by the political left' Posted: April 15, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Art Moore Seeking to "level the academic playing field," a national group has placed advertisements in major university newspapers urging students to report incidences of "anti-Christian bigotry" on campus. "Students must understand that the protections of the First Amendment do not stop at the university gate," said Benjamin W. Bull, chief counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, the Arizona-based organization that purchased the ad space. Alliance Defense Fund ad urges students to report discrimination against Christians...

An ongoing investigation has revealed that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has engaged in systematic discrimination against Christian student groups.After UNC's student organization office threatened to strip InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of university funding, Dr. Mike Adams discovered other Christian groups were receiving similar treatment. When confronted with a public records request from Adams, the university disclosed 17 letters it had sent to student organizations.Adams, an associate professor of criminal justice at UNC-Wilmington, says there was a common theme in the correspondence."Very clearly you can see that, in fact, they have not been focusing on secular fraternities and...

Since 9-11, hundreds of colleges and universities across America have bent over backward to show the world that they “embrace” Islam. The University of North Carolina, for example, now requires all incoming freshmen to read the Muslim devotional “Approaching the Koran.” And in the wake of Sept.11th, left-wing professors throughout the nation held “teach-ins” to inform college students that Islam is a peaceful religion, notwithstanding the fact that most of the Muslim world, including many American Muslims, view the United States as the “Great Satan.” Despite the left’s new love affair with radical Islam, the left has not changed its...