Please click here to see a live interview with William Jessup University President John Jackson.
Ricardo Lara – an extreme left-wing homosexual activist is at it again. Lara has been on an obsessive rampage to use the heavy hand of California State Government to force acceptance of homosexuality.
This bill would strip religious exemptions from any university that teaches anything other than training pastors for ministry.
If passed, it would enable students to sue over bathrooms, having to go to chapel service or if they are “offended” by scriptural teachings:
Dear Friends,
California’s State Senate recently passed a bill that limits religious liberties for all California Christian Colleges and Universities, and that same bill is now pending approval in the Assembly. The bill labeled SB 1146 is a flawed bill that denies faith based universities in California the ability to function based on religious beliefs and constitutional principles.
Although this may not be the intention of state Sen. Ricardo Lara (DBell Gardens) and colleagues, the bill is discriminatory and violates the First Amendment and freedom of religion that we are promised in our nation and state. For those familiar with SB 1146, the overall assumption is that the bill protects LGBT students against discrimination at private Christian universities. However, this perception serves merely as a Red herring leading audiences toward a false conclusion based upon discrimination and ultimately omitting the devastating impact upon constitutional freedoms.
Tens of thousands of students in California, many of them first generation college students and people of various nationalities, will potentially have their college of choice removed from the menu due to this bill.
SB 1146 seeks to narrow a religious exemption in California to only those schools that prepare students for pastoral ministry. This effectively eliminates the religious liberty of all California faith based universities that integrate spiritual life with the entire campus educational experience.
Prayer, chapel services, spiritual formation groups and required public service are all integral parts of the educational experience on faith based campuses. In the name of “transparency and recourse,” the bill opens up the pathway for harassment lawsuits when the universities simply go about the integrated spiritual experience of their shared life.
Students choose to attend faithbased universities because they find a place of safety and freedom. The universities provide residential facilities that are clearly delineated by gender and supported by a loving and caring student life staff. Faith based universities in California work hard at providing their students a diverse, respectful, safe and challenging environment to learn and prepare for service and vocation in life. The passage of SB 1146 seeks to destroy that time honored foundation.
Our country was founded upon principles of religious liberty that enable people to express their religious convictions in their lives, including the environment where they study and grow.
If passed, SB 1146 would undercut the very fabric of higher education, which advocates for diversity of opinion and freedom of discourse. For faith based universities, the educational and religious missions are intertwined and the separation of the two would destroy the framework of our institutions. William Jessup University in Rocklin and other similar universities in the state continue to urge reasonable dialogue and implore political and educational leaders to join with all Californians in creating an environment where grace, kindness and civil discourse can coexist with strong sentiment on matters of great importance.
The passage of SB 1146 would have a profound negative impact upon all California faith based students and the universities that have successfully integrated higher education with spirituality. Therefore we advocate a No vote on SB 1146 and urge the Governor not to sign the bill should it make its way to his desk.
John Jackson, Ph.D.
PresidentDr. John Jackson is the President of William Jessup University, the Sacramento area’s only WASC accredited Christ-centered residential four year private university.
