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CSU bans campus Christian group

September 10, 2014

ivslo_wow_tentThe California State University system has banned a popular campus Christian group, which has a chapter at Cal Poly, for refusing to allow non-Christians to serve in leadership roles in the organization. [Huffington Post]

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, which has chapters at 19 of the 23 CSU campuses, will lose its official recognition by the various universities as well as its ability to participate in student fairs and to rent facilities at reduced rates. A CSU spokesman said that the university system gave InterVarsity about a year to comply with a nondiscrimination policy, but the campus Christian group refused to do so.

“For an organization to be recognized, they must sign a general nondiscrimination policy,” said CSU spokesman Mike Uhlencamp. “We have engaged with [InterVarsity] for the better part of a year and informed them they would have to sign a general nondiscrimination statement. They have not.”

Following a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that determined public colleges can refuse to recognize religious groups with discriminatory beliefs, InterVarsity has faced recognition challenges at more than 40 universities. CSU is the largest institution yet to ban the organization.

InterVarsity policy opens membership to anyone, but requires those in leadership roles to affirm their belief in the entire trustworthiness of the bible.

“We don’t believe we can affirm a policy that forces us to compromise Gospel faith and Christian integrity without undermining our commitment to help students become real world changers, not just world accommodators,” InterVarsity spokesman Greg Jao said in response to the CSU ruling.

Jao said the decision to remove university recognition will costs individual chapters about $20,000 a year.

Prior to the ruling, the Cal Poly chapter was still planning on participating in the upcoming Week of Welcome club fair, according to the organization’s website. An August 1 post stated that the chapter will have a huge InterVarsity tent at the club showcase.


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First of all my apoligise, these Cal Poly Computers suck, as if you could not expect

something better from a “World” Class Technological University damn!


My opinion is they should be booted off campus and sent down to the Amazonian rain

forest as missionaries.


There are plenty of Muslims I prefer over these self rightous simpletons. There should be no compulsion and deceit in Religion.


I have noticed several of these keyboard warriors attemping to link psuedo Christianity

with one’s patriotism. Unless you rise to their level of christianity, you are somehow less

of an American. That being the case, get off your sorry asses and join the Army.


Speaking of Islam. It was the Abhassad Caliphait that preserved the writings of Plato,

Aristotle etc. advanced Mathematics to the level of Algebra and Calculus, advanced

Astronomy and Medicine (first Hospital) and fueled the Renassance in barbaric Europe.


* note: “Will work for Lap Top” I want to practice my hacking skills.


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Boy are you selfish! You want to inflict these people on the poor natives in the Amazon? On the American military? Both have enough problems as it is. (They are already dominant in the Air Force.)


You are right about the Islamic contributions to the world of about 1000 years ago but, unfortunately, much of Islam has regressed to a point prior to that. It does go to show that Islam has as much potential to do good as Christianity — as well as to do as much evil.


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I am an infidel, can I be president of the future Muslim terrorist club at calpoly?


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armed masked terrorist club? that would be the football team !i!


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So, a heterosexual can be in leadership of a homosexual group, a white can be a leader of a black group, a fratboy can be the leader of a sorority, a Christian would be allowed to be the leader of an atheist group…and so on?


I see court battle written all over this one.


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Go for it.


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Silly argument. Leaders still have to be elected by the members, so if they get elected, that means the members have more open minds than stereotypes would admit.


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I’m more curious about the larger group CRU, why are they allowed to use campus facilities??


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Does this mean the New Black Panthers have to let me in now?


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I think you have to turn your application in in person, probably at their downtown headquarters in Oakland. Would you like directions?


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Reall Bobby from SLO? Are you suggesting that OF COURSE the Black Panthers would have a headquarters in downtown Oakland, and OF COURSE it would be in a bad part of downtown? Why? Because they are black? That’s mighty racist of you Bobby. I would expect better from an elder “progressive” such as yourself.


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The Black Panther Party was founded in 1966 IN OAKLAND!


Please shed your racism and ignorance before posting.


http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/68134/Black-Panther-Party


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Awwww, now they’ll have to pay the same rates as everyone else. Poor babies.

No religious group should receive benefits above others. The church should also have

to pay taxes like everyone else.


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Why would anyone, want to belong to any group, if they did not believe or support the

group’s core values or objectives?

Or did we just kill the Law of Non-contradiction again?

And why is it only Christian groups that have to put up with this Government intrusion?


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We’ve had boys suing to join the girl scouts and vice versa. Laws for men who no longer want to be men, to use the women’s restroom. I guess an atheist joining a christian group isn’t so far fetched.


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I think you missed the point. The boys wanting to join girl scout etc is because they believe in that organization. They believe in what they stand for and how the operate. Non Christians demand to be leaders of Christian organizations for the sole purpose of destroying them from within. They apply simply to get the case into court so as to destroy the organization and make their point.


The difference between Christians and non Christians is that the Christian organization does not try to destroy the non Christian. The atheists on the other hand can not handle seeing any Christian organization succeed.


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“And why is it only Christian groups that have to put up with this Government intrusion?”


And there you go; this report is about a group that has satellite groups at 19 of 23 CSU campuses, that was warned a year ago that they were in violation of a rule that ALL other groups operating on campus have to abide by. The group made a decision that they were not going to comply, so they are being told they cannot be a part of the CSU system.


They are NOT being persecuted for being Christian, they are being forced to comply with the same rules that all other groups have to comply with. InterVarsity has brought this upon themselves, period.


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You really think all the other groups comply with the rules? Sure, the other groups may have signed the non-discrimination statement, but I doubt they all honor it. ICF was just being honest.


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And they can also do like the other Christian groups do, and rent space and set up their tent 10 feet off campus. Top of Foothill Blvd, right over the CPSU property line: Catholics on one side, Protestants on the other, peacefully proselytizing from off campus, which is where this group belongs too.


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“Welcome to College. Now Please Stop Thinking.”

Nick Gillespie|Sep. 10, 2014 4:45 pm

http://reason.com/blog/2014/09/10/welcome-to-college-now-please-stop-think


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All religions are a “crock” but some are more ignorant and violent than others. At best rediculous and benign and at worst evil and dangerous. The common thread thru out all is the almighty $


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I’d be less concerned about religion and more concerned about government agencies dictating to an organization how it needs to be run.


Change “religion” to “government” in the above comment. Eerily similar.


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If this was a private institution, I’d agree. Considering it is a state system, I figure the state should, and will have a say in its activities.


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Separation of church and state.


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If this is true, than CSU just violated the First Amendment.


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@fatboybcs “Separation of church and state”? Where did you hear that? Certainly not in the US Constitution. Must have been some liberal judges interpretation, huh?


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Jefferson was outspoken about the concept.


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To straighten you out on the concept…Jefferson and the FF wanted to keep government OUT of religion, not the other way around.


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elaborate on the difference?


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What history book did you read that silliness in? You’re 180 degrees wrong about “the other way around.”


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Can you please show me that “idea” in the Constitution. I keep hearing it tossed about by you leftists like it was a fact, but it is nowhere to be found in any official documents pertaining to the founding of our nation.


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I have an even lower opinion of government


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@Smiley Thank you for making my point. I was trying to figure out how to word the fact that Christians live and let live. They do not try to destroy non Christians. While atheists have an inner need to belittle and berate any Christian.


Just pointing out the difference in the two sets of morals.


Christians, like most religions, gets their moral guidance from their Bible. Atheists have no such moral guidance. “To each their own. If I say it is right, it is right. If I say it is wrong, then it is wrong.” “You can not tell me what to think about a particular subject!”


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