JACKSON Tenn (August 14, 2015) – More member schools of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) may bolt if the status of Eastern Mennonite University and Goshen College is not resolved soon.
Last month, the two Mennonite schools changed their policies on marriage. Both now allow faculty and staff to be in same-sex marriages. The CCCU board is consulting with the presidents of all member schools on what to do next.
Earlier this week, Union University withdrew from the CCCU, saying the decision-making process is taking too long. World magazine reports that several other schools, including Oklahoma Wesleyan University, may do the same.
Everett Piper, president of Oklahoma Wesleyan, told World he will announce a decision on whether to leave by August 31.
Piper told called the CCCU process “bewildering.”
“Unfortunately, now,” he told World, “even if they ultimately do the right thing and remove EMU and Goshen from membership, the damage is done.”
Shapri D. LoMaglio, CCCU vice president for government and external relations, said that no member schools have officially given the council a deadline. She said that the board has spoken with more than half of the CCCU’s 120 members in the past two weeks.
“Our board considers this a top priority and is moving with all due diligence and urgency,” she said.
One reason for the CCCU’s deliberate process: the long history it has with Eastern Mennonite. That school was a founding member of the CCCU in 1976. Myron Augsburger, a former Eastern Mennonite president, was president of the CCCU from 1988 to 1994.
The CCCU board also is trying to balance the needs of member schools, who come from 35 different denominations. Those denominations disagree on a wide range of issues from baptism and communion to contraception and human origins, said CCCU president Shirley V. Hoogstra, in a statement.
“Until very recently,” Hoogstra said, “there was not a divergence of opinion regarding hiring same-sex married persons. Now there is.”
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[Originally posted August 12]
After two Christian colleges voted last month to change their policies on marriage, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) promised to respond in a “deliberate and consultative” manner.
That approach is not good enough, says Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver, president of Union University in Jackson, Tennessee.
Union, a Southern Baptist school with 4,000 students, announced on Wednesday that it is withdrawing from the CCCU.
By dropping their non-discrimination policies on sexual orientation, CCCU member schools Eastern Mennonite University and Goshen College “abandoned fidelity to God’s Word,” Oliver wrote in a letter.
The CCCU board, said Oliver, knew the two schools were considering allowing same-sex married employee for years. Still they did not act, he said.
“There have been several gatherings where the Council could have been clear about our expectations of membership,” he said in a statement. “The Council could have even deliberated and voted on such matters. We did not. As a result, we appear unprepared to state our commitments, much less take action.”
Oliver has warned in the past that as many as 40 CCCU members could leave if Eastern Mennonite and Goshen are allowed to remain as members. Prior to Union’s departure, the CCCUhad 121 member campuses in North America.
No other member schools have withdrawn so far, said Shapri D. LoMaglio, CCCU’s vice president for government and external relations.
The CCCU board discussed the situation at Eastern Mennonite and Goshen at their regular meeting in July. After that board meeting, the CCCU board “reaffirmed its commitment to a deliberative and consultative process,” which included calling the presidents of all CCCU member schools to discuss the issue.
The “vast majority” of them affirm traditional Christian teaching on marriage, the umbrella organization said in a July release.
“The board and member presidents have made these phone calls a top priority,” LoMaglio told CT. “In the two weeks since they met, the board has already called nearly half of our presidents.”
CCCU was saddened by Union’s decision but wished the school well, said president Shirley V. Hoogstra in a statement.
Hoogstra also defended the organization’s handling of the issues raised by Eastern Mennonite and Goshen.
“Following a good and respectful process does not mean that we do not recognize the importance of this issue in our current cultural climate,” Hoogstra said. “[W]e do, and as such, CCCU is advocating vigorously on behalf of schools that hold the orthodox view of marriage, and we will continue to do so both for our members and for others who hold that view but are no longer members.”
But Oliver believes the CCCU and Union no longer share a common commitment to Christian teaching.
“The fact that this is not unanimous damages our witness,” Oliver wrote to the CCCU. “The reason we are passionate about this is because what we are talking about is not a secondary or tertiary theological issue—marriage is at the heart of the Gospel. To deny the Bible’s concept of marriage is to deny the authority of Scripture.”
Oliver is also worried that the CCCU’s lack of action could have legal implications. He and other Christian college leaders fear that their schools could be at odds with the federal government over their policies on sexuality. Because of that concern, Union wants to “maintain a consistency and unanimity with their faith family’s commitment on issues like same-sex marriage.”
The issue of whether Christian colleges could lose their tax-exempt status was raised during the Supreme Court’s deliberations over legalizing same-sex marriage. During Senate hearings last month, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told a Senate subcommittee that the agency has no plans to address the tax-exempt status of religious schools.
Bob Smietana/ AUGUST 12, 2015
STORY PUBLISHED IN http://www.christianitytoday.com/
