Chi Alpha, a Christian student fraternity that exists to “reconcile students to Christ, equipping them through Spirit-filled communities of prayer, worship, fellowship, discipleship and mission to transform the university, the marketplace and the world”, has lost its fraternity status at the California State University-Stanislaus because they required their leaders to be Christians.
The university claims that the Christian group requiring their leaders to affirm their Christian beliefs violates the school’s non-discrimination policy.
Matthew Jacob, Turlock City Councilman, feels the group is being treated unfairly.
“It’s nothing less than religious discrimination,” he told CBS Sacramento. “It goes against the very purpose of the organization to begin with,” Jacob added, “to have somebody that doesn’t even uphold that faith system to be teaching and mentoring other students in that capacity.”
“Cal State Stanislaus allows fraternities to limit their leaders and members to men,” said Adèle Keim, Legal Counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, in a press release. “So why can’t a religious group require its student religious leaders to practice what they preach? We call on Cal State to reinstate the Chi Alpha chapter immediately.”
A group of Tennessee high school cheerleaders is refusing to allow out of state anti-Christian groups to take away a tradition of pre-game prayer before football games.
Oneida High School had been offering prayers over the loudspeaker before the start of football games since 1930. Two years ago, the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association told schools to stop doing the prayers because of threats of lawsuits from those wanting to remove Christians from society.
The school continued but began to get threats from outside anti-Christianist groups because of the prayers. So the school replaced the prayers with a moment of silence. The team, coaches and fans said they could feel a difference in the atmosphere at the games when the prayers stopped.
And that’s when the cheerleaders stepped in.
Cheerleader Asia Canada stood during the moment of silence and began to say the Lord’s Prayer out loud. The rest of the squad joined her. Soon, the entire stadium was saying the prayer.
And because it’s student led, the anti-Christianists can do nothing about it.
“The removal of prayer before football games wasn’t an option in my opinion,” cheerleader Kayla King told the Independent Herald. “It’s your option what you do during that moment of silence, whether you say a prayer or not, but ‘as for me and my house, we will worship the Lord.’ I’m thankful for the community I live in and hope to represent it well.”