What’s going on with Vanderbilt University? First, they add pagan holidays to their school calendar so students are able to officially miss class and get make-up tests for the missed days. (See Vanderbilt Leads the Way). Now, they have put four Christian student groups on “provisional status” for being in violation of their non-discrimination policy. And what is their violation, you ask? Well, they have it in their constitutions that people have to be Christians to be leaders in their organization and must lead Bible studies.
Honestly, we might wonder why in the world a Christian organization would have such a thing in its constitution anyway, right? After all, if anyone ought to be tolerant it ought to be Christians. They should let just any Atheist or Muslim lead their groups.
Of course, Vanderbilt is not the only university to do this, only the latest one. Hastings University in California and Washburn University in Kansas have already gone this route. Do we see a trend here?
Political correctness basically means the avoidance of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult certain groups of people. “Tolerance” is the key word. In the application of this doctrine at Vanderbilt University, tolerance seems to apply to every group except Christians. It is okay for them to be excluded, marginalized and insulted.
Once again, we have an example of political correctness run amuck. Vanderbilt has bought into a Naturalistic worldview so deeply that they cannot allow any other worldview to even exist. Actually, it is not so much that they are putting the pressure on organizations representing every worldview, it is pretty much just Christian ones.
Unfortunately, this is the world we now live in. It is because of this that Christians need to seriously get up to speed on understanding worldview and its practical implications. The Christian faith does represent the truth about the nature of reality, but competing beliefs (particularly Naturalism) are becoming stronger and stronger on our college campuses. The only way that will ever be turned around is for Christians to be more diligent in sharing their faith and bringing more people into God’s kingdom. We can’t put it off any longer.