The Next Religious Liberty Case

[rug]

A Christian college asked for an ObamaCare exemption. Then came the backlash.

July 17, 2014 7:03 p.m. ET
By David Skeel

When D. Michael Lindsey, the president of a well-known Christian college in Wenham, Mass., called Gordon College, signed a letter to President Barack Obama with 13 other religious leaders on July 1, he can't have known what he was getting into.

- snip -

Despite its silence on sexual orientation, Hobby Lobb y's vindication of religious-freedom rights emboldened the leaders to send their letter. "We must find a way," they wrote, "to respect diversity of opinion on [sexual orientation and gender identify issues] in a way that respects the dignity of all parties to the best of our ability."

Media coverage in the Boston area quickly shifted from Michael Wear, a former Obama campaign official who spearheaded the letter, to Mr. Lindsay and Gordon College. The principal flash point was Gordon College's code of conduct, which forbids its students and faculty from engaging in sexual activity except in a heterosexual marriage. The day after the letter, the city of Salem announced that it was canceling a contract Gordon has to use Salem's Old Town Hall. Salem cannot work with "an institution that enables, and now advocates for, discrimination," the mayor wrote.

The divisions didn't end there. More than a hundred current and former students signed a letter urging Gordon to rescind its call for a religious exemption, and more than 3,000 people signed an online petition. Even the regional college accreditation agency—the New England Association of Schools and Colleges—has taken note. The Boston Business Journal reported that the Gordon controversy will be on the agenda when the agency meets in September. (The agency later clarified that Gordon's accreditation is not at risk.)

http://online.wsj.com/articles/david-skeel-the-next-religious-liberty-case-1405638181

[cbayer]

1. I can't get to the whole piece, but I like what I am able to read.

The more backlash the better.

[pinto]

2. "diversity of opinion"

I attended a second-tier private prep school in New England for a while. We all were required to attend chapel every morning before classes. It was patterned after the more conservative trend of Protestantism prevalent in areas of NE since colonial days. I found it pretty uncomfortable. My roommate was Jewish. He found it downright offensive.

I didn't last long. After I left the school I lost track of my Jewish friend but ran into him in Boston a couple of years later. He left a little while after I did.

Both of us had mixed feelings about leaving at the time - a New England prep school background opens a lot of doors and some of the classes were outstanding - but we did what we did. I don't think either of us ever looked back eventually.