Originally published March 29 2015
California State University bans Christian clubs, calls them "discriminatory"
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) The Left's war on organized religion is continuing, especially on the nation's college and university campuses, those bastions of "tolerance" that are actually becoming zones of speech control.
In particular, Christians are becoming an endangered species, especially on California campuses where more and more exchange students from other cultures and religions are attending.
As reported by The College Fix:
When Cal Poly Sal Luis Obispo hosts its annual Open House this April, during which campus clubs typically greet and recruit prospective visiting students, one longtime mainstay at the university will be conspicuously absent: Cru.
The Christian club will not be allowed to set up a table and pass out fliers, or meet and greet guests. It's the same at Chico State, where Cru will not be allowed to showcase itself during the school's annual fall recruitment drive. They've also been forbidden from hanging up posters in freshman dorms.
Apparently, the First Amendment's freedom of religion clause means nothing to student and university leadership at these institutions.
In fact Cru and other Christian student clubs at those schools and the remaining 21 Cal State universities cross California are no longer permitted to set up on the quad and recruit.
What would Jesus do?
Why? Because they have been deemed "discriminatory" for not allowing non-Christians to lead them. No word on whether non-Muslims or non-Hindus or non-Buddhists are permitted to lead those religiously affiliated groups.
So, as a result of the designation, any Christian clubs at Cal State campuses that would not change their constitutions to for allow non-Christian leadership (which really only makes sense to the little authoritarians on the Left) have been de-recognized by those campuses.
Persecuted, in other words, for their beliefs. What would Jesus do? Guess he'd have to go to a different school.
In addition to being banished from quads, the Christian groups have also been removed from campus web sites and school directories. It's as if they never existed; they are not allowed to take part in any events that would help campus clubs recruit new members and gain visibility.
Forced off campus, they must now rent more expensive digs and pay an outsider fee, which is a strain to already-tight budgets. And they cannot receive a portion of student fees that are collected on campus and distributed to the various groups to help them grow.
The changes are literally destroying the organizations, like Cru, one of three Christian clubs banished from Cal Poly and Chico State this year. Participation in the group has all but ceased.
The Campus Fix noted that before Cru's banishment, student Bible study leaders would normally have about 10-20 people show up at weekly study events. In recent weeks just two showed up, according to Cal Poly senior Courtney Shipp, a former Cru member.
'It's really a question of who will lead the groups'
In a separate interview Greg Jao, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship's national director, told the college news site that Chico State's chapter, which was one of the group's largest, lost 50 members because of the new policy.
"The effects of [the policy] severely reduced the ability of Christians and other religions on campus to practice their faith and be an integral part of the CSU community," engineering senior Matt Susank told The College Fix. "Not only does that speak against the mission at Cal Poly but of higher education and it is in a way discriminatory towards our ability to do that which is a huge part of campus life." He and a growing group of students are attempting to get the policy reworked.
But barring that, the Christian organizations are not backing down. They say their position has nothing to do with discrimination, and that anyone - any ethnic group, any religious affiliation, any sex - can join, but that leaders of Bible study need to be Christians.
"It's a question of who's going to be leading our students in a Bible Study, mentoring them individually, or deciding what kind of content goes into our weekly meeting, and we want people who agree with what we're about," San Luis Obispo Missionary Leader Jamey Pappas told the site.
Sources:
http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/21394/
http://www.intervarsity.org/page/california-state-university-system
http://www.nytimes.com
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