The religious freedom wars keep ramping up. As I have said so often now, a major cause of the ferocious attack on Christianity in the West over the past half century is the radical homosexual activists – and now the trans activists as well. They have known all along that to fully implement their agendas and to fully quash all opposition, the last bulwark to be removed or destroyed is the Christian church.
And that of course includes Christian schools and other Christian institutions. I have written numerous pieces documenting the attacks on Christianity, including my most recent piece on one Christian school being specifically targeted – the Citipointe Christian School in Queensland. See my write-up on this here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2022/02/02/activist-assaults-on-all-things-christian/
A lot has happened since I wrote that piece. The principal has stood aside, the enrolment contracts that were to be signed were discarded, our “Christian” prime minister sided with the militants over against the Christian school, and all in all, this has been another big win for the homosexual militants and another big loss for religious freedom.
The battle continues, but what we have seen happening there is a big worry indeed. Let me offer some of the latest news on this case. Some of the more encouraging news includes a standing ovation given to the principal Brian Mulheran when the pastor of the church associated with the school. Mark Ramsey, spoke about the man. So he still has strong support, despite what the mainstream media are trying to tell us. As Lyle Shelton comments:
Pastor Mark Ramsay’s stand from the pulpit yesterday and his congregation’s response to pastor Mulheran are good signs. Many Christian leaders feel worn down by the rainbow political movement’s defamation of Christians as haters and bigots when nothing could be further from the truth. A disagreement about biological gender and sexual ethics does not equal hate and a desire to discriminate.
Unpicking the false narrative built up by rainbow activists aided by their friends in the mainstream media is difficult, made worse by the church’s silence for so many years as this debate built. This day was always going to come. Now we must stand strong for the sake of children who will be confused and damaged by LGBTIQA+ ideology. https://www.lyleshelton.com.au/citipointe_principal_receives_standing_ovation_as_leaders_hold_the_line
And others are rallying to the support of the school. Even non-Christians such as Mark Latham have spoken out about this. As he rightly said recently: “You can’t expect people running a religious school to do things against the teachings of their own religion.”
Of course. As I and others have said so often, we do NOT expect the Labor party to be forced to hire Liberal Party members as staff. So why are we demanding that Christians schools be forced to hire those who stand diametrically opposed to what they believe in? As John Howard put it a year ago:
I wouldn’t expect the Labor party to employ somebody in their office or on their staff of a Labor member, who is a card-carrying member of the Liberal party. And I think that the Labor party is perfectly entitled. And I would say the same of my own party. We are perfectly entitled to say ‘well, we’re not going to employ somebody who’s barracking for the other side’. Everybody accepts the common sense of that. Well, if you accept the common sense of that, why can’t you accept the common sense that a religious school’s entitled to require a general assent to the beliefs of the particular religion within which inspire the teachings of that school. https://www.facebook.com/familyvoiceaustralia/videos/1209751952878181
And there is also a need for clarity as to not just which staff can be hired at a Christian school, but which students can be enrolled. It is up to each Christian school if they want to have only Christian students. Many allow others to come in. Some do not.
But schools should be free to make that decision. To demand ‘open enrolment’ could just as easily spell the end of that school as to demand that any and all teachers must be employed there. In a recent discussion about this on the social media one Christian said he was a bit concerned about it: “‘Open enrollment’ – This is a difficult one. Should anyone be rejected from hearing the gospel?” I replied to him as follows:
Anyone can hear the gospel and there are plenty of places to hear it – but that is NOT the issue here. The issue is if a Christian school has a right to teach Christian values and beliefs, and at least expect its staff to share those values and beliefs. And if a Christian school takes in hordes of non-Christian students, it will likely soon find itself to no longer be a Christian school – just another secular school. So just as a political party would be spitting chips if it were forced to employ staff or accept as members those clearly of another political party, the same applies here.
Others have written on this case. Let me mention two of them.John Steenhoff, the Principal Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Alliance put it this way:
Citipointe’s crime? It had included in its contract clear and unambiguous statements of orthodox Christian doctrines about sexual orientation and gender identity that are part of its wider orthodox Christian beliefs. In short, a Christian school had the courage and honesty to set out its clear doctrines and its intention to faithfully uphold those teachings in its school and then sent that to parents.
Amidst a flurry of pejorative press, journalists, politicians, and commentariat screeched, ‘Citipointe is discriminating against gay kids!’ Here is the thing – it’s not about gay kids.
Even though many hand-wringing and well-meaning Christians have tried desperately to breathe life into this straw man by engaging with it in opinion and commentary, the real issue is Christian doctrine. The kids are a Trojan horse. Citipointe has never expelled a child with same-sex attraction or a child with identity confusion, nor has any other Christian school. Indeed, Christian schools are one of the last places where vulnerable children are safe from society’s bombardment of children with hyper-sexualised teaching and unscientific identity theory.
The Citipointe saga is about an unrelenting attack on Christian teachings on sexuality and identity that are in the crossfire of a powerful anti-Christian activist lobby. After the tanks have rolled over Citipointe, they will aim their guns at the nuanced and wise Christian organisations who hold to an orthodox Biblical position on sexuality.
He concludes:
Citipointe school withdrew its enrolment contract after intense public pressure. This is a blow for religious freedom. No one was forcing parents to sign the contract, it was a transparent statement of the school’s beliefs and what it means to be part of the school community. The activists who shouted down Citipointe want Christian schools to change and conform to the fashionable ideologies of the day.
If we want Australia to be a flourishing democracy, we need to respect fundamental religious freedom rights and allow space for Christian schools to ensure vulnerable children are given a safe space away from sexualisation and damaging ideology. A confident and diverse pluralism is not just good for Christian schools. It is good for Australian society.https://spectator.com.au/2022/02/did-citipointe-prove-theres-no-freedom-of-religion/
And James Macpherson said this in part:
If you just can’t survive without waving a rainbow flag, or if you just can’t resist the urge to change pronouns and start using bathrooms for which you are anatomically unsuited, then Citipointe is not the school for you. And, sadly, your choice of schools is reduced by one to literally hundreds. But activists didn’t want to send their children to an ‘enlightened’ school where their views on sexuality would be celebrated. They demanded the Christian school change its ethos to accommodate them.
Bizarrely, they even argued that the Christian thing for the Christian college to do would be to change their Christian ethic to something other than Christian and, in so doing, show themselves to be true Christians. Such an absurd proposition could only be reasonable to people whose ‘Pride’ has now ripened into full-blown narcissism, wherein they now believe the entire world — including Jesus Himself — should orbit around them….
If Citipointe Christian College was expecting support from our Christian Prime Minister, they were quickly disappointed. When asked about Citipointe’s enrolment contract, he said: “I do not support that.” In fairness to Mr Morrison, he is focused on a number of texts other than the biblical text right now. And if Christian leaders won’t risk anything to defend Christian freedoms, why should the PM?
By the end of last week, Citipointe’s principles had been reviled and their principal had been resigned, at least for the time being. But the message was clear. Christians are perfectly free to practise their religion in Australia to the extent that their religion conforms with LGBTQIA+ proclivities. Which, of course, is no freedom at all. And it all happened not with a bang, but with a whimper. https://blog.canberradeclaration.org.au/2022/02/07/the-citipointe-controversy/
About the only other thing that can be said here is that some of us have been warning about this for decades now. We were mostly ignored and our warnings went unheeded. Now we are all paying the price for our unbelief, apathy and indifference.
12 Replies to “Much-Needed Clarity on Christian Schools”
Bill – if our Prime Minister has been accurately quoted, then I am greatly saddened.
A couple of thoughts come to mind.
What if a female who identifies as a male wants to enrol in an all-boys school (or vice versa)?
What if a boy or a girl who identifies as the other sex wants to enrol in an Islamic school (or aren’t we allowed to ask such a question?).
I write as one who taught in Christian schools for twenty-five years. All the staff were Christians and the majority of the students came from Christian homes, but, as others have said, parents sent their children to such a school because it was a Christian School.
Your last paragraph is a correct summary of the past two decades. Those of us who warned about such occurrences were treated as extremists or nutters only a few years ago. But weakness by Christians in general has only emboldened those who hate the Bible and its God. We may have to endure this persecution for some time and must be willing to count the cost of standing up for the truth. Thank you for making the facts public.
In response to your article, Much Needed Clarity in Christian Schools I would like to say thank you for continuing to insist that the emperor has no clothes on Bill. You then move into John the Baptist mode which is so appropriate! You link to back up data n others who dare to speak the truth during these times.
Right now, I cant say much more than thank you n I continue to pray for you n yours n that other Daniel’s will continue to stand up for our Lord Jesus Christ because the future of Australia and the Western world as we know it, depends on just that.
The sin of tolerance Billy Graham
In the realm of Christian experience there is a need for intolerance. In some things Christ was the most tolerant, broad-minded Man who ever lived, but in other things He was one of the most intolerant.
One of the pet words of this age is tolerance. It is a good word, but we have tried to stretch it over too great an area. We have applied it, too often, where it does not belong. The word tolerant means liberal and broad-minded. In one sense, it implies the compromise of one’s convictions, a yielding of ground upon important issues. https://billygraham.org/story/the-sin-of-tolerance/
I think there are 3 issues in debate here. Firstly I believe that Christian Schools should continue to have the right to only employ Christian staff. Secondly, it seems if I’m correct, that Citipointe would not enrol students who thought they were homosexual or transgender. That would be why the biologically male student in the media was not allowed to wear a dress to a school function.
Thirdly, I agree with our P.M. that the vast majority of Christian schools would enrol such students on the proviso that their parents accepted the school’s biblical teaching on sexuality and gender.
Surely such students would receive loving care in Christian schools and be better placed to learn the bible’s teaching than to be banned and then forced to attend a Government school.
I have in front of me an A3-size poster from 1994, the International Year Of The Family, asking “What Will You Do When The Wicked Seize Your City?
It advertised a series of meetings with Rev Dr Chuck & Donna McIlHenny, co-authors of: “When The Wicked Seize A City” – a grim look at the future and a warning to the Church. It warned: “Don’t Let It Happen To Your City! Learn How To Defend The Family And Your Children”.
That warning, more than 28 years ago, has been largely ignored on our watch.
There are the Christian principles of not being unevenly yoked with unbelievers (2 Cor 6:13) and shunning (1 Cor 5). This is reflected in the allegory of sin and wrong doctrine being spiritual leavening ( Mark 8:15).
Yes we warned for decades but unfortunately for the half century before we were only teaching a superficial faith to people so they didn’t have any understanding of how evil deceives or of good is supposed to fight evil. Faith is NOT passed in the DNA we seemed to have forgotten that a long time ago and are reaping the harvest of our failure to sow.
A minefield. The Christian school where I was Board Chairman for a number of years accepted enrolments from non Christian parents who wanted to provide their children with a “Christian” education. Fair enough. The bigger challenge is obviously when a student perhaps with parental support openly rebels. Even more difficult when a male student in a coed Christian school decides he wants to be a female. Or visa versa. Great wisdom needed. In a single sex school it is clearly untenable to allow this to occur. And that would be the case whether it was a “Christian” school or not.
Bill – if our Prime Minister has been accurately quoted, then I am greatly saddened.
A couple of thoughts come to mind.
What if a female who identifies as a male wants to enrol in an all-boys school (or vice versa)?
What if a boy or a girl who identifies as the other sex wants to enrol in an Islamic school (or aren’t we allowed to ask such a question?).
I write as one who taught in Christian schools for twenty-five years. All the staff were Christians and the majority of the students came from Christian homes, but, as others have said, parents sent their children to such a school because it was a Christian School.
And the tolerance and inclusion is palpable https://www.smh.com.au/national/queensland/death-threats-vandalism-at-college-as-brisbane-mayor-pleads-for-tolerance-20220208-p59un6.html
Your last paragraph is a correct summary of the past two decades. Those of us who warned about such occurrences were treated as extremists or nutters only a few years ago. But weakness by Christians in general has only emboldened those who hate the Bible and its God. We may have to endure this persecution for some time and must be willing to count the cost of standing up for the truth. Thank you for making the facts public.
In response to your article, Much Needed Clarity in Christian Schools I would like to say thank you for continuing to insist that the emperor has no clothes on Bill. You then move into John the Baptist mode which is so appropriate! You link to back up data n others who dare to speak the truth during these times.
Right now, I cant say much more than thank you n I continue to pray for you n yours n that other Daniel’s will continue to stand up for our Lord Jesus Christ because the future of Australia and the Western world as we know it, depends on just that.
The sin of tolerance
Billy Graham
In the realm of Christian experience there is a need for intolerance. In some things Christ was the most tolerant, broad-minded Man who ever lived, but in other things He was one of the most intolerant.
One of the pet words of this age is tolerance. It is a good word, but we have tried to stretch it over too great an area. We have applied it, too often, where it does not belong. The word tolerant means liberal and broad-minded. In one sense, it implies the compromise of one’s convictions, a yielding of ground upon important issues.
https://billygraham.org/story/the-sin-of-tolerance/
I think there are 3 issues in debate here. Firstly I believe that Christian Schools should continue to have the right to only employ Christian staff. Secondly, it seems if I’m correct, that Citipointe would not enrol students who thought they were homosexual or transgender. That would be why the biologically male student in the media was not allowed to wear a dress to a school function.
Thirdly, I agree with our P.M. that the vast majority of Christian schools would enrol such students on the proviso that their parents accepted the school’s biblical teaching on sexuality and gender.
Surely such students would receive loving care in Christian schools and be better placed to learn the bible’s teaching than to be banned and then forced to attend a Government school.
I have in front of me an A3-size poster from 1994, the International Year Of The Family, asking “What Will You Do When The Wicked Seize Your City?
It advertised a series of meetings with Rev Dr Chuck & Donna McIlHenny, co-authors of: “When The Wicked Seize A City” – a grim look at the future and a warning to the Church. It warned: “Don’t Let It Happen To Your City! Learn How To Defend The Family And Your Children”.
That warning, more than 28 years ago, has been largely ignored on our watch.
Yes it is a good book Peter. I discussed it several times, including here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2012/04/25/shouting-down-the-opposition/
There are the Christian principles of not being unevenly yoked with unbelievers (2 Cor 6:13) and shunning (1 Cor 5). This is reflected in the allegory of sin and wrong doctrine being spiritual leavening ( Mark 8:15).
Yes we warned for decades but unfortunately for the half century before we were only teaching a superficial faith to people so they didn’t have any understanding of how evil deceives or of good is supposed to fight evil. Faith is NOT passed in the DNA we seemed to have forgotten that a long time ago and are reaping the harvest of our failure to sow.
A minefield. The Christian school where I was Board Chairman for a number of years accepted enrolments from non Christian parents who wanted to provide their children with a “Christian” education. Fair enough. The bigger challenge is obviously when a student perhaps with parental support openly rebels. Even more difficult when a male student in a coed Christian school decides he wants to be a female. Or visa versa. Great wisdom needed. In a single sex school it is clearly untenable to allow this to occur. And that would be the case whether it was a “Christian” school or not.
Thanks John.