NC Lawmaker Vows to Stop Anti-Christian Bigotry at UNC-Chapel Hill
by Jim Brown and Rusty Pugh
August 13, 2004
(AgapePress) - A North Carolina congressman is calling for an investigation into a decision by the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill to deny recognition to another Christian student group.
UNC recently froze funding to the Alpha Iota Omega Christian fraternity, claiming the group's desire to limit its membership to Christians constitutes "discrimination." The fraternity refused to sign a "diversity statement" that would force it to admit non-Christians as members. Republican Congressman Walter Jones says the incident is yet another example of a taxpayer-funded university not recognizing the constitutional rights of students.
"This is unacceptable -- and I would say that if this was a Moslem group," the lawmaker emphasizes. "But it seems to me that young people of the Christian faith are being singled out, not only at the University of North Carolina but at other institutions of higher learning."
The North Carolina lawmaker believes UNC is engaging in blatant anti-Christian bigotry. Alluding to complaints lodged by the group Americans for Separation of Church and State against a Catholic bishop and against two Protestant churches, Jones perceives the UNC situation as "an extension ... of the extreme left in this country trying to undermine the Judeo-Christian principles of America." Such anti-Christian actions, he says, occur at universities as well as outside of academia.
Jones is expecting a report this month from the Department of Education's Civil Rights Division. He says he will do everything in his power to make sure the discrimination at UNC is stopped completely. "This office that I have the privilege to represent will shortly be looking into this and notifying the proper federal authorities that they need to look at this situation," he says.
IVF: Another UNC Case
In February, Jones urged state and federal officials to investigate a female professor at UNC who harassed a Christian student because of his biblical opposition to homosexuality. And in December 2002, the school refused to recognize another Christian group, the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, because it wanted to restrict its leadership to Christians.
InterVarsity Andrea McAleenan says chapter leaders on every campus must be Christians -- but everyone is welcome.
"Our fellowships are very inclusive," she explains. "We have students from all religious backgrounds, and we also encourage people who are just looking for answers about their own spiritual journey and people who want to explore and think through that with other students who are, again, looking at those deep issues of life."
McAleenan says without Christians in leadership positions, InterVarsity chapters could not maintain their identity and mission.
"We feel that the leaders of the organization -- people who would be a chapter president, for example -- really need to be able to say that they believe in a Christian faith," the IVF spokeswoman says. "To not have that as an undergirding would [make it] pretty difficult ... to be the head of a chapter."
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship has chapters on hundreds of college campuses around the U.S.
