Longtime volunteer co-leaders of Bowdoin Christian Fellowship, Robert Gregory and his wife Sim, who operated the group under InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, resigned rather than submit to a new school policy requiring their pledge not to discriminate based on “sexual orientation.”
Mr Gregory, a lawyer, explained: “The Bible teaches that human sexuality is expected to find its fulfillment inside of the twoness of persons and the twoness of genders.”
The dean of students refused their offer to sign with religious reservations.
“If someone’s participating in an organization and they are LGBTIQA {Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex (hermaphrodites) Queer/Questioning and Allied.} and they are not allowed to participate in that organization because of their sexual orientation… then that’s discrimination,” the dean hardheadedly explained to the school newspaper. “And that is a violation of Maine law and therefore also a violation of College law.”
Someone should tell the Dean that Freedom of Religion is a Federal Law, thanks to the 1st Ammendment, and therefore supercedes any state law or mandate…
The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances. This was adopted on December 15, 1791, as one of the ten amendments that comprise the Bill of Rights and was numbered first as it was considered the basis of all other laws in US.
In my anguish... 