(03-10-2017 09:41 PM)Campaign4Liberty Wrote: It is not so much that Liberty won't hire LGBTQA professors...more so...If one is an LGBTQA professor, they simply wouldn't apply here in the first place. Would a conservative Christian University be your first choice if you were a professor? Do you think Liberty has a check box for sexual orientation on applications? Let us not be foolish here. We do not - and how would we know one's sexual preference even if we did? Also, one does not have to be a Christian to attend school here. As with LGBTQA faculty, the reality is that atheists just don't pick Liberty as their number one school - same with agnostics. And Jews - we love Jews - few schools in the country have a stronger pro-Israel stance than Liberty...that should speak volumes, unless of course your brand of Judaism doesn't come from Israel.
1. We don't ban students of different faiths - the simple fact is that students of other faiths or no faith at all simply rarely apply.
2. We do make sure that faculty / staff adhere to the school's doctrinal statement - no different than a registered Republican being denied employment by the DNC. Such employment would not fit the culture of the DNC and would not further their mission of electing Democrats and furthering the Democratic platform. Simple logic - if you run a business, organization, political party - you're going to hire people that are a good fit for the mission of your organization.
3. LGBTQA types are not banned as students, faculty, or staff - see number 1 - they simply don't apply in large numbers, if at all. And again, how would our admissions department determine sexual preference from an application? Foolish!
4. We love Israel - extremely pro-Israel, extremely pro-Judaism
5. We are a Christian University - an intelligent person would not expect to find a large swath of religious diversity on campus..no different than any other religious school...how many atheists attend BYU? How many Hindus attend Catholic U?
http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/li...112ee.html
There's a difference between being a place where most would just say 'no thanks' and a place where there's a stated ban. How can a married LGBT athletic director comply with the faculty/staff guidelines? They can't. Its a full on ban.
Furthermore, the Liberty Way does provide for penalties for simply being Gay and married for students. Whether they are applied rigidly or not, the stated policies allow for a full on ban on Gay married students.
You have a legal right to discriminate. But that doesn't mean that anyone has to accept or further that discrimination. Do you have ANY non-Christian Jewish professors or AD employees at LU in Lynchburg (other than in the two small programs where LU is compelled to do so).
Number 3 is in direct conflict with number 2. If you make it against the rules to be Gay and married, then its a ban.
I think that LU might be conflating 'support for Bibi Netanyahu's government', 'support of Israel', and 'support of the Jewish community'.
If you don't want to lock yourselves off into the NCCAA (an evangelical athletics grouping that has schools like Bob Jones in it) then why lock yourselves out of the wider world in Accounting or Athletics when it comes to participation and employment? LU appears to be cherry picking.
If you assert that LU doesn't enforce its policies, then why keep them? I'm pretty sure getting rid of it won't turn LU into San Francisco State or Yeshiva. LU's choice. Understand that many of us will take your policies at face value.
For me the bottom line is....are we endorsing/furthering discrimination in athletic participation and staffing or not? Would we play a school that said...'no Blacks'? Nope. Why would we play a school that has stated policies prohibiting participation by LGBT persons in any capacity and appears to have policies that ban non-Christian Jews from employment in Lynchburg
Again, you'll find someone willing to play you. But just know that if you're looking to create a environment where discrimination is accepted/normalized/furthered.....using athletics....there's going to be complaints.