Seattle-Pacific University’s Students and Faculty Sue to Force it to Abandon Christian Beliefs
Same-sex “marriage” was at one time sold to the American public as harmless.
“How is my gay marriage going to harm you?” was the constant refrain repeated over and over again, ultimately culminating in the U.S. Supreme Court calling it a constitutional “right” in 2015 in Obergefell v. Hodges.
It was good marketing, but the question was always disingenuous. And it didn’t take long for the question to be answered.
Fast forward a few years since Obergefell, and now, Seattle-Pacific University (SPU), a Christian educational institution in Seattle, founded by and affiliated with the Free Methodist Church, is being sued by a group of its own students and faculty for adhering to biblical standards concerning marriage and human sexuality when it comes to hiring faculty.
Did you catch that? A group of students and faculty, who voluntarily chose to either study at or teach at a Christian school, want to force the school to abandon core Christian standards about marriage.
The lawsuit seeks to force the school’s board of trustees, who are called “rogue” and other bad names by the plaintiffs, to stop adhering to the Bible and start hiring LGBT-identified teachers. Previous trustees, who permitted LGBT faculty to be hired, are called “loyal” trustees in the lawsuit.
“Loyal” to what?
The lawsuit’s allegations are so over-the-top they would be funny, if they weren’t part of an effort to punish a Christian school for being, well, Christian.
For example:
“The rogue board members derive power from their associations with extremist and supremacist organizations that working together, knowingly or unknowingly, perpetuate a form of white Christian supremacy that harms SPU’s LGBTQ+ students and employees and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) students (now the majority of the student population) and employees,” the Complaint filed in state court in Seattle alleges.
We understand that God’s design for marriage, sexuality and relationships is Christian, but the suit does not explain how this is “white supremacy” and oppressive to “people of color.”
The lawsuit even attempts to slur the board of trustees by noting its dealings with Christian organizations such as Alliance Defending Freedom, an ally of Focus on the Family.
“These extremist organizations are external to the university and include Alliance Defending Freedom, designated an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC),” the Complaint states. The SPLC, once a commendable legal organization for fighting the Ku Klux Klan and other racist organizations, has in recent years taken to targeting Christian organizations and labeling them “hate” groups for adhering to biblical standards on marriage and sexuality.
The real issue appears to be that the plaintiffs in the lawsuit don’t like the fact that the university is correcting its previous biblical error when it relaxed its hiring standards to include LGBT faculty.
“SPU, until recently, made significant strides toward becoming known as an inclusive, ecumenical, academically rigorous, and social-justice oriented Christian institution of higher education,” the plaintiffs allege.
Following the Bible’s mandates, however, has supposedly put the university on the road to ruin. Enrollment is down, faculty are quitting, and donations are falling off, the lawsuit suggests.
The lawsuit also claims that the board of trustees has breached a fiduciary duty to its faculty and students by adhering to the Bible and has committed fraud in the process.
The lawsuit may not have a high probability of success, but it does add a “piling on” effect to the “investigation” of SPU by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson over the school’s Bible-based hiring practices. The school has responded to the AG’s investigation by suing him in federal court.
SPU’s situation is by no means unusual in the field of education. LGBT plaintiffs and organizations are: suing to get religious exemptions for schools under Title IX removed; using the courts to force Yeshiva University to allow an official LGBT campus club; and are working with the Biden Administration’s Department of Education to redefine “sex” in Title IX in order to include sexual orientation, gender identity and abortion.
The bottom line of all these efforts ought to be apparent: The goal of LGBT activists is to force religious educational institutions to endorse and celebrate homosexuality and sexual identity confusion, or be shut down, using the force of government if necessary.
SPU was founded in 1891 as a Christian university and has been associated with the Free Methodist Church ever since. Should the university ever abandon its biblical principles, it would forfeit that association.
One lesson here is that the plaintiffs in this lawsuit just don’t care about biblical orthodoxy. They have an entirely different agenda.
But an even more important lesson for the Church to learn is stand up and resist the forces of culture, as SPU is doing. Ephesians 6:13 (ESV) says: “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”
Related:
Groups Rally to ‘Stop the Title IX Take-Over’ – You Too Can Speak Out on This Important Issue
Help Protect School Children From Department of Education’s Title IX Rule
USA Today Calls for Banning Oral Roberts University from NCAA Over its Christian Beliefs
Education Department Investigates Religious Schools for Upholding Christian Teaching
‘Inside Higher Ed’ Calls Christian View of Marriage ‘Homophobic’ – CCCU Pushes Back
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