There's a controversy brewing at Bowdoin College right now
because the Bowdoin Christian fellowship group
really wants to discriminate.
And here's the backstory here:
If you go to college and you want to start any sort of campus group,
this is how it basically works.
You have to fill out some paperwork
and you have to agree that anyone on campus is allowed to join your group.
And in exchange for getting that official recognition,
the campus gives you free meeting space.
They give you the ability to
have a booth at, like, the organization fairs that freshmen come to, their orientations and everything.
And they give you access to money for grants, so you can bring in speakers and buy food and things like that.
The problem with the Christian group on their campus right now
is that they have no problem allowing anyone to be a part of their group,
but when it comes to electing their leadership,
they want to have an outright ban
on gays, lesbians, atheists.
Anyone who has premarital sex and isn't lying about it.
Basically anyone who doesn't fit their narrow definition of what a Christian is.
And by the way,
I don't really know why any of those people would want to join that sort of Christian group, but that's another story.
The campus is saying
they can't institute that ban, because they say it's discrimination.
And they're right.
They will still let the Christian group meet on campus if they want, but
the Christian group won't get any of the benefits that all the other registered organizations do,
if they want to keep that ban in place.
As a former campus group leader myself,
I want to sympathize with the Christians here,
but I can't, because their worst case scenarios are just so outlandish.
I mean, first of all, it's not like gays and lesbians and atheists
are rushing to join, you know, Campus Crusade for Christ.
If we go to a meeting, it's only to observe.
Secondly, even if there were gay or lesbian Christians in the organization,
they would still have to get elected to those leadership positions.
And if most members of the group are acting like the group leaders
and they don't want those gays and lesbians in higher office,
they don't have to vote for them. The school's not forcing
the Christian group to put gays or lesbians in those higher offices.
As far as I know, there have been zero examples
of, you know, atheists going to Intervarsity Christian Fellowship,
joining en masse,
you know, taking over the leadership,
dismantling the entire organization, and then claiming victory.
That has happened never.
So, all of these worst-case scenarios just make no sense. There's nothing to be worried about, even if you are a Christian group.
And by the way,
all the other religious groups on campus:
the Jewish Hillel organization,
the atheist groups on campus,
they never seem to have this problem.
They're more than willing to allow people, who are not Jewish or who are not atheists,
to join their group, be part of those discussions. And you know what? If they
follow and agree with the mission of those organizations,
they can get elected to leadership, too.
This seems to be a uniquely Christian problem.
It's entirely possible that there are Christians out there who support church-state separation
and skepticism, as they define it,
and they enjoy discussions about religion with fellow atheists.
I have no problem if someone like that wants to be in a leadership position in an atheist organization,
because as long as they understand what they're in for, who really cares?
But for some reason, when it comes to these Christian groups,
they think that these awful things are going to happen,
and only to them.
This whole controversy is about Christians wanting special privileges
that all the other religious and non-religious groups on campus
even ever consider.
You know, these Christians really want to discriminate on campus, because I guess that's what Jesus taught them to do.
Again, make no mistake. This is a purely Christian issue.
There's no other group on campus, you know, running around trying to ban people from their leadership.
It's absurd.
It shouldn't be tolerated and I'm glad Bowdoin College is coming down on the campus group saying:
"No, we're not going to allow you to discriminate.
You just don't get to be a registered campus group."
My Name is Hemant Mehta and I write at FriendlyAtheist.com
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