Tufts Bans Group for Requiring Leaders to Adhere to ‘Basic Biblical Truths of Christianity’

Just like Vanderbilt Univ. here in Nashville.  I wonder sometimes why a Christian group would want to be associated with a secular university, except that all students pay fees that support all student groups - that pass Ceasar’s tests.

Here are the eight basis truths TCF asks its leaders to “...support and advocate…”. (From [url=http://sites.tufts.edu/christianfellowship/our-constitution/]http://sites.tufts.edu/christianfellowship/our-constitution/[/url])

a.    The only true God, the almighty Creator of all things, existing eternally in three persons Father, Son, and Holy Spirit–full of love and glory.
b.    The unique divine inspiration, entire trustworthiness and authority of the Bible.
c.    The value and dignity of all people: created in God’s image to live in love and holiness but alienated from God and each other because of our sin and guilt, and justly subject to God’s wrath.
d.    Jesus Christ, fully human and fully divine, who lived as a perfect example, who assumed the judgment due sinners by dying in our place, and who was bodily raised from the dead and ascended as Savior and Lord.
e.    Justification by God’s grace to all who repent and put their faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
f.    The indwelling presence and transforming power of the Holy Spirit, who gives to all believers a new life and a new calling to obedient service.
g.    The unity of all believers in Jesus Christ, manifest in worshiping and witnessing churches making disciples throughout the world.
h.    The victorious reign and future personal return of Jesus Christ, who will judge all people with justice and mercy, giving over the unrepentant to eternal condemnation but receiving the redeemed into eternal life.

The following op-ed from September 2012 from someone opposed to this Christian group gets to the heart of the matter. http://www.tuftsdaily.com/op-ed-defund-intervarsity-christian-fellowship-today-1.2756260

On Dec. 7, 2011, then-director of the Tufts’ IVCF chapter, Ms. Alexandra Nesbeda, was quoted in a Daily article as saying that any queer relationship – no matter the kind, amount or lack of sexual play – is, by definition, “unchaste.” Among other IVCF rhetoric and publications (such as “A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality”), this statement is in line with IVCF’s Chapter Leader’s Handbook, which reads: “Is it ok to have a homosexual encounter? [...] A Christian says no.”

Ms. Nesbeda’s callous admission alone should have resulted in an immediate severance of relations between Tufts and IVCF.

Are we surprised, then, at how doggedly IVCF refuses to compromise? Why TCF has no elections? As Alec Hill, President and CEO of IVCF has written, the recognition of IVCF chapters as student groups has been challenged or revoked at 41 (!) different colleges in the 18 months leading up to February 2012 alone in light of intransigent, harmful practices such as these.

My alma mater, Williams College, forced the Christian Fellowship there to renounce its Christian principles a couple of years ago.  This is all in the wake of the wrongly-decided Supreme Court case of Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, in which the Court held that colleges could force Christian groups out of the schools on the basis of requiring “non-discrimination.”  There is basically now a concerted effort by homosexual and atheist activists across the country to shut down Christian voices in colleges and universities, especially those affiliated with InterVarsity, which is the largest college/university national organization.  (I figure it won’t be too much longer before InterVarsity is classified as a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.)

Here are some links to the successful propaganda campaign against the Williams College Christian Fellowship because of their discrimination against not having homosexuals or unmarried heterosexuals having sex serving as leaders of the organization:

http://www.change.org/petitions/williams-college-president-stop-funding-a-student-group-that-discriminates

http://www.ephs4equality.org/

http://s393577330.onlinehome.us/ephs4equality/update.html

http://chaplain.williams.edu/files/Background-Regarding-Campus-Religious-Groups-Issues-of-Sexuality1.pdf

Anyone who doesn’t see organized persecution coming against Christians in America in the near future is blind.

Here the crime was requiring leaders of the Christian Fellowship to either be faithful in marriage or chaste in singleness.  This has now become “hate” and “discrimination.”

This looks like this is the second time for the Tufts Christian Fellowship, they were banned in 2000 and apparently made the university change its mind:

http://www.wnd.com/2000/05/4503/

From their website :

The Muslim Students Association of Tufts (MSAT) serves both the Muslim community and those interested to learn about Islam. We seek to provide a welcoming community of faith and friendship, while fostering the values of our Islamic faith and accommodating the needs of the Muslim students on campus. We hold weekly discussions of the scriptures (Qur’an and Hadith) and issues relevant to Islam, organize community iftars during the month of Ramadan, invite prominent speakers to campus and work with other student organizations on campus to build an environment of peace and mutual understanding.
Above all, Islam means submission to God, and our ultimate goal is to seek His pleasure through our activities.

I also took a look at their “constitution and bylaws.”  It doesn’t mention anything about adherence to Islam as a precondition of membership or being an officer, so I suggest that all the members of the displaced Christian group join the Muslim Students Association and get enough members to elect themselves to officer positions and then appoint a Catholic priest as the group’s imam.  Let’s see how well that goes over.

So much for freedom of association…  I guess a failure to stand by the cultural value of as much sex as possible is a step too far for Tufts University.
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There are some sins for which the punishment is to remain in that sin and reap the natural consequences.  A refusal to think logically is one such sin.  The idea of relative truth will be the death of the university as a place of learning.

Daniel is making an obviously-important point here: if Christians are excluded for not being secular liberals, then surely the Muslims should be as well?