Mass. Christian college facing review after requesting right to discriminate against gays

[DonViejo]

A Massachusetts Christian college that is asking the government to allow it to discriminate against LGBT people is now facing review by a regional accreditation board.

The Boston Business Journal reported over the weekend that Gordon College’s attempt to skirt federal anti-discrimination laws by claiming religious exemption has earned the school a position on the New England Association of Schools and Colleges’ agenda at its next meeting.

Gordon College President D. Michael Lindsay was among 15 Christian leaders who penned a letter to the Obama administration earlier this month in which they reasoned that under the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the Hobby Lobby case, their institutions should be exempt from federal anti-LGBT discrimination laws.

Gordon College, Lindsay argued, is an “explicitly Christian institution,” and as such, should be allowed to fire LGBT employees on the basis of their orientation, or to refuse to hire them at all with impunity.

more
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/15/mass-christian-college-facing-review-after-requesting-right-to-discriminate-against-gays/

[riderinthestorm]

1. Good. The local city council also voted to break their contract with Gordon over the LGBT issue

http://acton.wickedlocal.com/article/20140710/NEWS/140719769

Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll made the announcement on Facebook Wednesday afternoon that Salem is terminating Gordon’s contract to manage the city’s Old Town Hall.
"It saddens me to curb our contractual relationship in this manner, despite a long and positive relationship with Gordon College over the years," Driscoll wrote. "However, not doing so would be a violation of our Non-Discrimination Ordinance and even more troubling, allow a contractual relationship between the City of Salem and an institution that enables, and now advocates for discrimination against the LGBT community. As Mayor, I most certainly cannot let that stand."

[blkmusclmachine]

2. Thanks, Hobby Lobby.

[atreides1]

3. Blame the Vatican 5

They could have just as well ruled against Hobby Lobby, but chose not to! So put the blame where it belongs, in the laps of Roberts, Alito, Scalia, Thomas, and Kennedy...the Vatican 5!!

[KamaAina]

6. Wouldn't that be the Vatican 6?

Sotomayor is Catholic too. Oh, right, she dissented from Hobby Lobotomy.

[RKP5637]

4. Some just love bigotry, persecution and hatefulness in the name of religion. It's a real turn on

for them.

[KamaAina]

5. I have a friend who is a Gordon alumna

She is conflicted about this. She supports LGBT rights, but despises the idea that government can tell a religious institution what to do. Her tag line: "It sucks to be a moderate." Which I told her would be a cool name for a blog.

edit:

“We’re not going to look like a very progressive school,” Campbell said. “It’s going to be difficult for people to find value in a Gordon degree going forward.”

My poor friend.

[Humanist_Activist]

7. People have freedom of religion, religious institutes do NOT have a right to run accredited...

educational institutions, if they can't meet the accreditation standards, too bad for them. Religious exemptions should only exist under very narrow criteria, and shouldn't be labeled such but rather as conscience exemptions, and only for involuntary activities, such as the draft, or being called to an unjust war.