Thursday, September 11, 2014

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Banned



           Have you ever wondered what it would be like to go to foreign country where you could not walk freely into a church and worship God?  Well you do not have to even leave the country to feel the same kind of persecution.  Recently the California University system has denied Christians the right to have Christian organizations or clubs on campus.  Making the twenty-seven California college campuses much like a closed country.  Closed countries are “Countries that limit or prevent Christian ministry by expatriates as missionaries.”[1] 
            The reason this topic has become such a big issue is because they banned InterVarsity Christian Fellowship from not just one but all of California’s Colleges.  “We are not talking about a private university – we are talking about America’s largest network of public universities.”[2]  College is a time where countless young adults go “crazy”, but it is also a time where many come to find God.  If Christian organizations are not on college campuses spreading the word of God there will be less people that come to know God.  The people in college now are the leaders of our country, churches, and schools tomorrow.  Can you imagine our country completely run by non-believers? 
            “InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA has been active on U.S. college and university campuses for more than 73 years.  InterVarsity is affiliated with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), and is a charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).”[3]   Last year InterVarsity had nine-hundred and forty nine chapters with over forty thousand members.  Now you are probably wondering what caused The California University system to deny InterVarsity Christian Fellowship the right to be on campuses.  The California University system believes, “while InterVarsity invites and welcomes all students as participants, we believe a Christian group should have the right to expect and even require their leaders to be Christian—just as any student group, club or Greek organization should be able to require their leaders to be like-minded.”[4]  Although InterVarsity is no longer an official organization they are coming up with a creative new style of campus ministry.  
Last week Adreanna mentioned in her blog that her sister was in the organization Empowered Arab Sisterhood, they allow all girls to join but you must actually be Arab to receive a leadership position.  Why is this group any different than the InterVarsity Christian group?  To be able to run Christian group you must actually be a Christian.  I do not understand why this concept is so difficult.  It is like a plain M&M, you can all be different on the outside but you must have the same beliefs (chocolate) on the inside to be in a leadership position.

4 comments:

  1. Katie, this is excellent, you are truly getting the hang of this. Your demonstration of knowledge about the topic reveals your attentiveness to the research, you summarize the situation well and always have definite "Katie" conclusion. I love it. and thank you for always posting a day early showing everyone else that late is unacceptable. You are a Champion.

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  2. I would have liked to know more details (like what are 949 chapters and why did you mention Greeks?) I love how you remembered Adreanna's blog and included it in yours. Your writing structure is always so fascinating too XD

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  3. I agree, you present the facts while still keeping your voice in the blog. Great writing as always!

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  4. really good blog, but when is your blog not good to be honest. I agree with Ethan and liked how you brought up Adre's blog. I think it was definitely detailed and had plenty of information. good job!

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