A federal court has ruled that Christian colleges and universities with traditional views on sexuality and marriage can continue to receive funding through Title IX, rejecting LGBT students’ efforts to strike down a religious exemption to federal discrimination law. U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken in Oregon dismissed the case filed by a group of LGBT Christian college students and former students who sued the U.S. Department of Education for providing religious exemption to Title IX discrimination laws to Christian higher education institutions.
Aiken concluded that plaintiffs failed to show that the original religious exemption granted by Congress decades ago for Title IX has a discriminatory purpose. “Plaintiffs have submitted no allegations of discriminatory motivation on the part of those enacting the religious exemption. To the contrary, Plaintiffs argue that when Congress enacted Title IX, protections for — or discrimination against sexual and gender minorities — were ‘of no concern,’” wrote Aiken. Title IX of the Civil Rights Act forbids sex-based discrimination in education, but colleges upholding traditional definitions for marriage and sexuality can request exemptions that allow them to adhere to scriptural beliefs on matters of sexuality.
The court rejected the plaintiff’s claim that religious exemptions violate the First Amendment of the Constitution, noting that “the Supreme Court has interpreted it to allow, and sometimes require, the accommodation of religious practices.” The Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal nonprofit representing three Christian higher education institutions, celebrated the ruling. “Title IX, which applies to schools receiving federal financial assistance, explicitly protects the freedom of religious schools to live out their deeply and sincerely held convictions,” said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman in a statement. “A group of activists asked the court to strip that protection away from schools that educate the next generation and advance the common good. The court correctly concluded that Title IX’s religious liberty exemption doesn’t violate any of the plaintiffs’ claimed rights.”
However, across the pond things are very different. An Evangelical Christian teacher in England could be permanently banned from teaching after he was suspended for referring to a biologically female student as a “girl.” Joshua Sutcliffe was removed in November 2017 from his position as a teacher at the Cherwell School in Oxfordshire after he allegedly discriminated against a student by stating “well done, girls” when addressing the student’s small group during class. Sutcliffe was the focus of a number of allegations by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) during the group’s professional conduct panel last week, according to the London-based Christian Legal Centre (CLC). The hearing could ultimately result in Sutcliffe no longer being allowed to teach in the U.K.
Sutcliffe is also accused by officials at Cherwell of sharing his opposition to same-sex marriage after he was asked by a student about his views. That incident, according to CLC, occurred during a Bible study that was organized by a Christian group at the school. In response to the allegations, Sutcliffe was expected to cite a statement from former Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, who said, “Any teacher, if asked direct or invited to share his view by a parent or a student, is perfectly at liberty to say, with equal marriage — as with adultery, divorce or abortion — what their own moral view might be.” Thus, the attacks on Christianity in the area of education will continue to be pushed by followers of the liberal agenda until they are stopped or until every Christian that believes in Christian standards is driven out.
Biblical Connection: Genesis 1:27 states, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
PRAY: Pray for the teachers and administrators that are in the crosshairs for simply holding traditional Christian beliefs.