Here we go again. A Christian college is revising its code of conduct for faculty members, expecting a commitment to personal conduct that's in line with biblical ethics, including on matters of sexual behavior.
But, of course, all the liberal media will focus on is a new "ban" on gay or lesbian faculty members at Shorter University, a Baptist institution with campuses in Atlanta and Rome, Georgia.
But Washington Post blogger Elizabeth Flock went even further, quoting a student at Shorter who compared the school's move to Nazi persecution:
Tamara King Henderson, a student at Shorter who says she is bisexual, commented on the Georgia Voice story that she was concerned the pledge could impact her education. “This could hurt the University’s ability to attract the best and the brightest professors available... [and] ability to receive federal funds.”
Henderson also quoted anti-Nazi theologian and Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller, who said: “ First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.”
“Will the students be next?” she asked.
The mission of Shorter College is to provide quality higher education, enabling and encouraging student commitment to active life-long learning, personal spiritual values, responsible citizenship, and community and societal leadership in a global context.
The College seeks to accomplish this mission through quality undergraduate liberal arts programs, specialized professional programs, and select graduate programs. Geographically distant locations provide educational opportunities to individuals who are unable to attend classes in the traditional setting. The College affirms a commitment to the Christian faith and strives to integrate Christian values within a nurturing community in its whole process of education.
A "Personal Lifestyle Statement" pledge for faculty that prohibits premarital sex, drinking alcohol in front of students, and being active in a local church seems eminently reasonable of a Christian college to mandate of its faculty, but Flock failed to find a single defender to make that point in her 8-paragraph November 1 post.
