Posted on 11/01/2011 12:19:24 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Shorter University in Rome, Ga., is requiring its employees to certify that they are not gay as a condition of employment.
All 200 employees of the Baptist university, located about 65 miles northwest of Atlanta, received a "personal lifestyle statement" last Wednesday, which they must sign or risk being fired. Employees must pledge to be "active members of a local church" and to abstain from, among other things, drug use, premarital sex and homosexual behavior.
"I reject as acceptable all sexual activity not in agreement with the Bible, including, but not limited to, premarital sex, adultery and homosexuality," the statement reads.
Employees must also certify that they "have read and agree with the personal lifestyle statement and will adhere to it in its entirety while employed at Shorter University. I understand that failure to adhere to this statement may result in disciplinary action against me, up to and including immediate termination."
Don Dowless, president of Shorter, told Atlanta TV station WSBTV that "anybody that adheres to a lifestyle outside of what the biblical mandate is would not be allowed to continue here."
Supporters of the statement say that Shorter is a Southern Baptist school and that employees who have chosen to work there already know they are expected to adhere to Baptist principles. It is also a private institution, which means it has the legal right to hire whomever it wants.
"Anything that is not biblical, we do not accept," Dowless said.
Joe Frank Harris Jr., chairman-elect of the Shorter board of trustees, justified the policy in broader terms in a press release.
"The 'why' is really simple: What you stand for matters. Proverbs 3:5-6 tell us to 'trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.' If we acknowledge Him, He will make this university's path straight," Harris wrote.
Is Lifestyle Policy Extreme?
But critics say the new policy goes too far.
"I recognize that the university has the legal right to do this, but just because it is legal, it isn't necessarily morally right," an anonymous gay employee told The Georgia Voice, an Atlanta gay newspaper.
"We now will live in fear that someone who doesn't like us personally or someone who has had a bad day will report that we've been drinking or that we are suspected of being gay," the employee said. "What happens then? There is no defined process, and even if there were, there is no way to absolutely prove or disprove the accusation."
In addition to questioning how the policy will be enforced, he criticized it as being overly broad and arbitrarily condemning some actions over others.
"I don't see homosexuality as being any less congruent with Christianity than judging people, sexual deviance, dishonesty, pride, lust, envy, sloth, etc.," he said. "My response is simple: Why is homosexuality so much worse than anything else in the Bible? Why does a homosexual deserve to be fired any more than an obviously egotistical person, or a lazy person, or a dishonest person?"
He added, "The bottom line is that I am a gay Christian and I made a decision to be around other Christians. I'm not alone, and it is sad to see organizations shun people like me. I'd assume that if you're a strong Christian, you wouldn't need to turn those away who sin, and instead you'd welcome them with open arms because they love Jesus."
I see it as a practical matter: Homosexuals are often very hostile towards Christianity.
I’m sorry, Mr. Smith, but you’re going to have to prove you’re not gay. This is our test. Mr. Smith, meet Sheila. You have 30 minutes to complete the test. The size of the stain on the blue dress will be judged by an independent panel of experts.
With that said, I'm out of whiskey.....
Get ready for the fagscist attempts to sue the school into submission.
thats wrong no instition got wher is on their won they have to let the gay man pass
Except premarital sex and adultery is also banned.
But do Lewinsky's count?
Yep. My militant lesbian cousin goes out of her way to apply for jobs at Christian institutions just so she can throw a fit when they don’t hire her.
There are 3 words that will make her angry like no other.
“I Don’t Care”
This has NOTHING to do with tolerance or INtolerance —it’s about LIABILITY:
Male homoz molest kids at a FAR higher rate. Then there are eye-popping lawsuits, thereby beggaring the organization.
This is sad, but simply PRACTICAL.
It’s probably cheaper 2 defend against allegations of discrimination, than get 200 lawsuits for having tolerated a MOLESTER in your midst —sometimes the suits do not emerge for 25 years...
Male homos have a way of infiltrating any org that has young boys in it. See the destruction they brought to the Catholic Church.
Will they let the students have premarital sex?
The bottom line is that I am a 'minor attracted' Christian
The bottom line is that I am a pyromaniac Christian
The bottom line is that I am a nudist Christian
The bottom line is that I am a womanizing Christian
I don't remember the scritpture that covers 'big tent' Christianity.
“I recognize that the university has the legal right to do this, but just because it is legal, it isn’t necessarily morally right,” an anonymous gay employee
What? You say that it is morally right to engage in homosexual behavior, that clearly is identified as an abomination?
“The bottom line is that I am a gay Christian and I made a decision to be around other Christians. I’m not alone, and it is sad to see organizations shun people like me. I’d assume that if you’re a strong Christian, you wouldn’t need to turn those away who sin, and instead you’d welcome them with open arms because they love Jesus.”
Just another effort to silence real Christians. A Christian will NOT willfully engage in sin. Yet this person does.
That person equates homosexuality to him or herself, when that is not the real situation. Homosexuality is a behavior, not a person. The school is shunning a behavior. Neither will that school allow drunkards, or adulterers, or such to be employees.
“I see it as a practical matter: Homosexuals are often very hostile towards Christianity.”
I’m 57 and people have always talked to me; sometimes strangers. I suddenly came to realize that there are homosexuals and gays. Homosexuals are attracted to the same sex. Gays are making a “lifestyle choice.” You can be a conservative homosexual, but you can’t be a conservative gay. Homosexuals are like everybody else. They don’t swish. They’re happy to serve in the military. They appreciate married people. Some of them are religious. They don’t want to “convert” anybody.
According to an FBI briefing I received in the ‘80’s when I got my first security clearance, the entire gay movement was initially bankrolled by the KGB. The KGB wanted to destroy the foundation of American life; the family. Indeed, initially, men and women in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia were not supposed to marry. They would have children, which would be raised in crèches by the state. (Remember the Nazi baby factory films?) This was such an astonishing failure, as the children did not turn out well, that this part of party philosophy was dropped. However, universal abortion and gayness were still promoted as a means of population control. Russia still suffers from this today with an average of 6 abortions per woman per lifetime. Russia has a replacement rate of .2. (The US rate is 2.1, last I read. It must be 2.0 to break even.) A former Soviet soldier, an émigré, told me that they were never paid. They were expected to seek solace with their “comrades in arms” rather than dating or prostitutes. (Today, Russia has the highest peacetime military death rate in the world due to same sex rape/murders.)
“Shorter University in Rome, Ga., is requiring its employees to certify that they are not gay as a condition of employment.”
This is no different than the hundreds of companies out there that require employees to sign documentation to certify that they do not smoke cigarettes.
Actually, the “gay Christian” is welcome to work there.
He simply has to not commit sodomy. Big difference.
Shorter Univ is correct. The roots of our acceptance of the gay perversion is our acceptance of pre-marital sex to the point that now if you DON'T live together before marriage you are considered weird.
Open arms to sinners who renounce their sins an turn from them yes. Those who celebrate, justify, and flaunt their sins not so much.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.