August 21, 2012

A message for Vanderbilt’s leadership

by Byron Yawn

Vanderbilt_GoldThis year Vanderbilt University implemented a “non-discrimination” policy that essentially bans Christians on campus from forming clubs. It puts these groups in an untenable position—allow homosexual members (and even officers!) or lose their ability to meet on campus. As Al Molher chronicled here, it is a policy that intentionally targets the conservative Christian groups that used to be allowed to meet on campus.

It may be called the non-discriminatory policy, but its goal is to force “total inclusivity” for everyone except Christians. It compels religious organizations on campus to either deny their beliefs to remain on campus, or affirm their beliefs and be kicked-off of campus.

Vanderbilt University is a fifteen minute drive from the church I pastor. It is a campus I pray for not only because of its proximity, but because our college ministry has many students from there. It has a place close to my heart.

And for that reason, I have a message for the faculty of Vanderbilt:

thank you signTHANK YOU. Thank you so much for implementing this policy, because you have taught my church members who are students at your campus things I couldn’t have taught them in years, and you have done that in just a summer.

This demonstration of white collar persecution has succeeded in lighting a fire under their faith. Essentially, you have brought the gospel to life for them. You have turned these students into fervent prayers for Vanderbilt, interceding for the students there and for the gospel. You have provoked them into becoming fervent evangelists. They know now first hand that they are surrounded by people who are alienated from God. The fact that Christian groups are no longer allowed to meet on campus provides incontrovertible evidence that their campus leaders are hostile towards Christ and His church.

You have given them a small and appropriately Americanized view of what opposition to Christ’s church looks like. It has caused the students who love the Lord to realize that college is not a game, but an opportunity to reach the lost.

We are just excited, and I just wanted to officially thank you.

I want to invite any believers at Vanderbilt who have been marginalized, pushed off campus, and told you can not organize with freedom (like you would be allowed to in the rest of the country) to join us. We will worship with you and we will love you.

The Community is our college ministry, and we are about 15 minutes from Vanderbilt. You can get information about when we meet  from our website.

in Evangelicalism with 9 Comments
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Byron Yawn

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Byron is the senior pastor of Community Bible Church in Nashville. His newest book, What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him, is a guide for parents and pastors who seek to raise men of God.
  • MarkO

    Bryon,
    A wonderful example of Christ like love and optimism. The Gospel goes forth ever more fervently in times of opposition. Will pray for open hearts.

  • http://almostreadytogoamish.blogspot.com/ Rational νεόφυτος

    This story blew me away when I first read it, as a remarkable example of persecution within our own soil. Very much something to pray about. It’s telling that groups like the ACLU haven’t exactly made headlines standing up to defend these Christian groups…

  • Mary Elizabeth Palshan

    It’s just separating the wheat from the chaff, IMHO. If we think we will ever be totally accepted
    in this evil world, then we are sadly mistaken. When the world calls evil good (such
    as is the case with gay and lesbian marriage) then the world deserves to be
    left to their own devices. I am not saying do not evangelize the world, but if
    God closes a door it is for a very specific reason.

  • Karl Heitman

    This is an interesting article after all of the talk about religious freedom on the C-gate….

    • http://thecripplegate.com Jesse Johnson

      Amen. I totally get that tension too. There is a sense that what is best is freedom to worship, and a separation between church and state allows a church to preach a free gospel. But at the same time there is the reality that persecution always is healthy for the gospel.

  • ali

    Free speech is free as long as our speech agrees with the establishment – when it does not, it is no longer free speech, but supressed until we conform or remain silent and complisant.
    Kudos for your brilliant repsonse.

  • Truth Unites… and Divides

    Has anybody in Vanderbilt University’s leadership read and responded to your excellent letter?

  • Eric Ellis

    Great stuff, Byron (Boo?)! These have been my thoughts about Vandy exactly, but you’ve articulated them for me. May the Lord richly bless you and the church in Nashville as you seek to honor and glorify Him!

  • Mandi

    This is such evidence of persecution of the church in America! While persecution is certainly healthy for the church, as it does separate the wheat from the chaff, I’m not sure of how it furthers the Gospel when actions like this stifle the free flow of the good news. Certainly, what man intended for evil, God can use for good.

    I’m very thankful for organizations like Liberty Counsel, American Center for Law and Justice, Alliance Defending Freedom, Becket Fund and others that ensure the U.S. government does not get involved in this kind of persecution. In fact, because these universities are persecuting our brothers and sisters, I think the government should stop providing the universities with grants, government contracts, and other forms of support from our tax dollars.

    And, while private entities like Vanderbilt and Hastings College of Law continue to persecute Christians, I’m thankful for folks like Byron Yawn who call attention to such persecution and encourage the kind of perseverance that yields character, which yields hope. Romans 5:3-5.