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Do you think that your daughter is going to enjoy spiritual and
intellectual freedom when she heads off to college this coming fall? Well, if
your answer is yes, think again. As I have mentioned before, open and honest
debate on most college campuses is a thing of the past and at many universities
Christianity is actually suffering overt persecution and blatant intolerance.
Recently, for example, at the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell
University, and Dartmouth, campus activists stole and burned conservative
student newspapers without facing any significant penalty. Ask yourself what would
have happened had conservative students committed the same act of vandalism
against any liberal groups on these campuses.
At Purdue, Castleton, and Syracuse University, Christian
organizations found they simply could not operate without violating expansive
nondiscrimination policies. Their very existence was imperiled when they were
told they could not require their members to be overtly Christian. Would Muslim
organizations have been prohibited from expecting their members to subscribe to
the Koran? Would the student atheist group be required to have Christians serve
as their organization's officers? How about Student Democrats? Would they be
required to admit and elect conservative Republicans as their organization's
president or vice president?
Here's another example: A few years ago a Catholic student at a
Big Ten university was confronted with an overtly anti-Christian bias when he
refused to wear a pink triangle button that was given out during orientation. He
was fired from his leadership position by the Dean of Students of that institution
by the end of the day for his "intolerance."
Intolerance? Apparently all worldviews must be tolerated except for
Christianity, which is intolerable.
Remember these examples next fall as your son or daughter heads
off to brand X university. If you expect your student to have religious freedom,
think again.