Thought Police?
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA is falsely characterizing and pushing back on a report, first published by TIME, that accuses the multi-million dollar nationwide evangelical organization of saying it will fire anyone who supports same-sex marriage.
Saying they are “disappointed” with the story, InterVarsity on its Facebook page falsely claims the TIME article states the Christian group “is” firing anyone who supports marriage equality. The “article wrongly stated that InterVarsity is firing employees for supporting gay marriage,” the Facebook post reads. “That is not the case.”
But that’s not what TIME reported.
“One of the largest evangelical organizations on college campuses nationwide has told its 1,300 staff members they will be fired if they personally support gay marriage or otherwise disagree with its newly detailed positions on sexuality starting on Nov. 11,” TIME’s Elizabeth Vargas writes.
“InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA says it will start a process for ‘involuntary terminations’ for any staffer who comes forward to disagree with its positions on human sexuality, which hold that any sexual activity outside of a husband and wife is immoral.”
InterVarsity on the front page of its website claims it “cares for the whole person,” but it is asking its staffers to, effectively, turn themselves in if they support same-sex marriage, and then face a two-week separation period. The organization has “more than 1,000 chapters on 667 college campuses around the country. More than 41,000 students and faculty were actively involved in the organization in the last school year, and donations topped $80 million last fiscal year,” according to TIME.
Hypocritically, InterVarsity’s own website this week posted an article titled, “No Job Is a Calling”:
The organization’s new President, Tom Lin (photo), began in August, after 20 years as a staffer. It’s unclear if this new policy is his, but he has not stepped up to revoke it.
InterVarsity’s mission statement reads like a course in brainwashing future leaders. They admit to working to push back against the facts universities teach:
“In the university, women and men are encouraged to pursue truth, often without regard for God, and to pursue personal goals, often without concern for a higher purpose.”
“We believe that when students and faculty are transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ, their campus is transformed, and ultimately society as a whole comes to more closely reflect the priorities of the kingdom of God,” they say, apparently believing that “the priorities of the kingdom of God” don’t include equality for LGBT people.Â
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Image via InterVarsity