The Way Forward for Religious Institutions. Faith-based colleges can resist the heavy hand of government—if they dare.

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | March 24, 2023 | Rob Jenkins

[karpov]

Traditional religion in this country has never been more under attack than it is today, with the recent passage of the 2022 “Respect for Marriage Act.” Despite its half-hearted nod to religious liberty, the law, as Sen. Mike Lee (R, UT) and others have argued, is actually a vehicle for undermining faith-based institutions under the guise of promoting “LGBTQ rights.”

The specific institutions in the crosshairs clearly include religiously affiliated colleges and universities, which are being pressured to compromise their core beliefs in the name of “progress.” Examples abound, but Exhibit A would be Yeshiva University, an orthodox Jewish institution in New York City.

In 2021, the “YU Pride Alliance” sued the university after campus officials refused to formally recognize the group because its beliefs conflict with the Torah. A New York state court ruled, in September 2022, that Yeshiva had to grant recognition, and later that month the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block the ruling, sending the case back to the state courts. (SCOTUS did leave open the possibility of taking up the issue once it has worked its way through the lower courts.)

Meanwhile, the Biden administration announced last May that it is investigating six other faith-based institutions for violating the rights of “LGBTQ+” students, among them Liberty University in Virginia, Azusa Pacific University in California, and Colorado Christian College. The investigations, which according to the Department of Education’s website are ongoing, were launched in response to complaints from students who claimed the universities had discriminated against them based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

How can religious universities survive in such a hostile environment? Will they simply, over time, cease to exist—or cease to be religious?

[nopardons]

BTTT

[chajin]

"Now they must ask themselves whether it’s more important to be a highly ranked research university, to play sports in a major Division I conference, and to rake in federal grants—or to remain true to their core beliefs, perhaps at the sacrifice of all those other “honors.”

They will also lose regional accreditation. This means they will have to forego concerns for denominational differences to establish their own accreditation agency, with higher standards than SACS or the other regionals.

[Alberta's Child]

Examples abound, but Exhibit A would be Yeshiva University, an orthodox Jewish institution in New York City.

This is a great example of a FAKE religious institution.

Actually, that assessment is too harsh. Yeshiva doesn’t even claim to be a religious institution.

Sure, they attract a lot of Jewish students there … and their Board of Directors reads like a meeting of the Israeli Knesset … and they dress up their public-facing imagery with Hebrew script. But under its founding documents Yeshiva was established as a SECULAR university — specifically so it could avail itself of taxpayer funds.

Yeshiva University chose Caesar. Let them deal with him, now that he’s turned out to be a predatory homosexual freak.