Christian Student Group Attacks Girl

 

This is rather astounding. A girl named Randi Foster was attacked when she attended a meeting of the Fellowship of Christian Students. The students physically assaulted her and told her that she had a man's name. It seems to me that the people who worry about sharia law coming to America don't actually mind the theocracy concept at all, just which theos is pulling the strings.

In related news the "Christian" fraternity Beta Upsilon Chi at Vanderbilt University threw out two members because they were gay. This violates Vanderbilt policy and the university is private and thus has more leeway in terms of what restrictions they put on campus groups.

As I understand it, the fraternity is supposed to be a "Christian" fraternity and no one has claimed that the students thrown out were not Christian. One of the fascinating things about modern evangelicals is how they have redefined Christianity to mean heterosexual. Christianity was once defined by theological claims asserted. Not anymore. Apparently how one has orgasms is now the defining doctrine of Christianity. Actually, in this case it didn't even involve orgasms as the student who was thrown out said he was not sexually active with anyone.

The fraternity president Greg Wigger was involved in the hunt to sniff out gay members in both cases. In each case he went to the students and demanded to know what their sexual orientation was. After assuring them it would remain private he then went to the officers of the fraternity and ratted them out and had them kicked out.

To be recognized by the school as a fraternity the group has to promise to NOT discriminate on various grounds including sexual orientation. Apparently this fraternity doesn't mind lying to the University in order to secure official status on campus. And, as a libertarian, I recognize the university's right to set policy for what qualifies as a recognized campus organization. A university official said: “By registering with the Office of Student Organizations and Governance, a student organization agrees to abide by our policies. We expect student organizations operating on our campus to follow our policies.”

It certainly does appear that this fraternity is acting as if it is impossible for anyone who is gay to be a Christian. This, of course, redefines Christianity in a way that ought to be offensive to real Christians. As one who attended seminary I can at least say that there were core doctrines that defined Christianity, the central one was belief in Jesus (however that belief was defined). But now it appears that sexual orientation, not belief in Jesus, is being used to define Christianity.

Love for Christ ought to be the central doctrine of Christianity. But with fundamentalists their hatred for gays trumps their love for Christ. Love is actually a rather weak motivator for humans, it appears. Too many people get inspired by hatred and anger and too few by compassion and care.

When I watch how Christians act, as illustrated in these two recent examples, I can only say that I'm thankful I gave up Christianity entirely. It saves me the embarrassment of being associated with people like this.