Comments on: TN Legislature Seeks to Overturn Bizarre Vanderbilt Rule

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:03:05 +0000

Am I missing something here….a group is exclusionary by nature. No one would expect a fly-fishing group to accept somebody who wants to meet to play football, or the chess club to accept somebody who wants to participate by giving speeches on current events, so why should a Christian group or any other religious group for that matter be forced to accept somebody that does not prescribe to the same system of beliefs? If what Jim says is true it seems like everybody on campus including the administration is trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill. However, if the administration is now targeting just Christian groups of being exclusionary and not talking to the golf group, or the any number of the other groups on campus then ther article’s point is warranted. Perhaps there is a common thread here and the administration is going after a certain religious belief. Have that told the Muslim groups on campus that they must accept individuals that don’t believe in Allah?

By: Linda Brees

Linda Brees — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:45:19 +0000

Well, the goals of FIRE are misrepresented too. They are fairly conservative.

If the university does anything that could be even remotely “PC” they are right there to save the poor oppressed members of the majority via a well-timed lawsuit.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Foundation_for_Individual_Rights_in_Education

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:40:59 +0000

And thank you for your kind words.

While it’s ironic that the Foundation for INDIVIDUAL Rights would attack a PRIVATE institution, it’s worse that they would select Vanderbilt (The Ivy of The South), who’s school of Divinity, top ranked school of Education and Medical Center do so much for the benefit of and are an economic engine for Middle Tennessee.

What’s unpardonable though, are the actions of the state legislators who supported a bill attacking one of their best state institutions.
Educators, the fine people of Tennessee and Vanderbilt deserve much better.

By: Linda Brees

Linda Brees — Mon, 07 May 2012 19:22:41 +0000

Thank you, Jim. It’s nice to get some common sense around here.

By: Doug

Doug — Mon, 07 May 2012 01:54:43 +0000

I could care less if Christianity diappeared off the face of the Earth. It has only brought us mysogeny, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the persecution of Galileo, The Holocaust, RC Christian schools full of pedophilia, a justification of imperialism and colonialism, Apartheit, anti-abortion nonsense, anti-birth control idiocy, denials of evolution and science and a host of evil events. It does far more harm than good.

At least as people modernize, urbanize and understand science, they can leave these myths and legands behind them.

By: TN Legislature Seeks to Overturn Bizarre … – Education News | ChristianBias.com

Sat, 05 May 2012 13:21:46 +0000

[...] Christian Persecution News- Christian Bias SOURCE: http://www.educationnews.org/higher-education/tn-legislature-seeks-to-overturn-bizarre-vanderbilt-ru... [...]

By: Jim

Jim — Sat, 05 May 2012 12:26:10 +0000

This article is extremely misleading.
Vanderbilt’s written policy simply states that any group FUNDED BY STUDENT FEES must be non-discriminatory and open to ALL students.

This policy is neither “new”, “extreme”, “bizarre” or “shocking” but simply a restatement of Vandy’s long standing policy as a Private Secular university since it’s split from the Methodist Church 100 years ago and reflects the common sense principle that no student should be barred from full participation in a university activity on the basis of race, religion, etc., especially when their money is funding the activity.

Further, this position has been accepted by the vast majority of mainstream religious groups, with the exception of a couple of far right Conservative “Christian” groups solely seeking to create a political issue.