<p>It is funny, I keep hearing about ‘attacks on religious belief’, but normally what it comes out to be is demanding that religious belief cannot be the basis for discrimination in broader society. So opponents of same sex marriage claim having that legal is an ‘attack on their religious beliefs’, for example, when we are talking the right of legal recognition of same sex marriages. and de facto what they are claiming is that their beliefs are more important than anyone’s rights. In general, this ‘respecting our beliefs’ generally comes down to a concept I think is dead wrong, that their beliefs, because they are religious in nature, supercede everything else.</p>
<p>In the constitution, religious belief is protected, but it also faces the same hurdles other beliefs do, that is what about the rights of others? Workplaces are supposed to respect workers religious beliefs, but for example, a worker cannot claim a religious exemption (as much as conservatives have tried) and discriminate against a gay coworker or otherwise treat them with less than respect, if corporate policy forbids it. It is because the right of a worker to work in a hassle free environment supercedes belief, religious or otherwise. </p>
<p>A college is a community, and as such establishes rules designed to make that community work. if a belief of any kind operates in opposition to that, they have the right to regulate that. Religious belief, being an especially strong one, can bring people together but it can also separate people and sadly create tribes and hate, as has literred history with dead bodies and so forth. What Bowdoin and others are doing is saying that if you want a recognized group, that there are rules designed to make the environment as open as possible, where everyone’s beliefs are recognized. What AW wants and the religious right constantly wants is an exemption for religious belief, to put it above all others. For example, in the case of the universities they set rules that say if a student club wants funding and recognition, all members of the community have to be allowed to join, and also that they have to be allowed to run for the leadership. The same rules apply to the atheist group on campus, if a devout Christian wanted to run, they couldn’t stop it and the same rule would apply to a muslim group, if you accept the money and the recognition you accept those terms, pure and simple, and it applies to every group. The Young Republicans cannot deny a libertarian the right to join and run for office, the womyn’s center cannot deny membership to men (and yes, virginia, such a group existed at NYU, and yes, NYU had the same rules, despite some of its membership being miffed</p>
<p>As others have pointed out, in practical reality this is another of the myths of the religious right that doesn’t hold up. Part of the thinking is that the evangelical group is going to be invaded by atheists, gays, etc, who will ‘take over the group’ and ruin it, when in all likelyhood, few atheists or gays would want to join the group, and the mass conspiracy theories are more paranoid delusions like the black helicopter believers than reality. And if by some chance a gay person joined the club, and decided to run, the university doesn’t say they have to win…</p>
<p>The idea of these rules, and having been one of the leaders of the Student Activities board in my day in school and having to deal with issues like this I am talking from experience, is to try and make it so kids don’t ‘ghettoize’ their groups, to try and encourage people to go outside their comfort zone. The other point is the university is trying to be neutral, if you grant an exemption for let’s say the Campus Crusade for Christ, then what about the White Citizens Students Union that believes in separation of the races? What the religious want is special treatment for their beliefs, they want different rules, and it is one of the reasons we have had more than a few abuses in society, where religious beliefs were allowed to overwhelm the rights of others (for example, Connecticut banning the sale of birth control of any kind, because of the heavy influence of the Catholic Church in the state at the time). </p>
<p>Religion under attack in some ways it reminds me of some of the arguments about affirmative action or non discrimination policies, what it often comes down to is a group that had some kind of favored status, offended because they no longer had it (and btw, when I talk about affirmative action or non discrimination policies, I am not saying all the arguments against them are invalid or based on quite frankly whining, just that some of them IMO are). Religion, specifically certain Christian beliefs or teachings, were given special status in our society, and what has happened is that when religious belief didn’t automatically give them special status, we hear whining about attacks on religion. Something like this reputedly happened at Juilliard several years ago, the story I heard was that Juilliard, like many arts schools, has events based around cultural groups, and has LGBT days and so forth…and that when they proposed a pride day or some such, a religious group on campus that was composed of evangelicals with strong anti gay beliefs, protested and tried to get Juilliard to stop the event, because it ‘violated their religious beliefs’ and ‘made them feel bad about their beliefs’ and so forth, if what I heard was right there was quite a stink, but in the end Juilliard told them that the pride day was no different than </p>
<p>One other thing, not mentioned, is that if a student joins a group, they are also required to be respectful of the group. A gay student who joined an evangelical group and then spent all his/her time making fun of their beliefs, or wore a disrespectful t shirt or something would be in trouble, while groups have to allow other kids to join, it doesn’t allow those kids to act like jerks. Bringing bacon to a Muslim students group, or bringing a T shirt showing Mohammed having carnal relations with a donkey (and sadly, I have seen crap like that), or a t shirt showing two guys having sex to a religious groups meeting, would bring down the house on them…</p>
<p>I agree with others, I would love proof that ‘religious groups’ were being singled out, especially Christians. From talking to friends of mine who are atheists, Jewish and Muslim, they said they faced a lot more hassle from so called Christians than I suspect Christians did from anyone else.The reason religious groups get ‘singled out’ is because they are the ones who want to break the schools rules and still be a club, the rest of the groups whatever their beliefs tend to abide by them…and yes, even at a liberal school like NYU, there were problems with some groups along these lines, which I won’t go into, but let’s say it was groups with very strong beliefs, both on left and right, and they were treated the exact same way. </p>