by Penna Dexter

A dire threat to the religious liberty of Christian colleges and universities in California has been avoided — sort of. I guess you could say the schools ‘dodged a bullet.’ But the gun is still aimed at them.

A piece of legislation that had passed the California state senate was headed to the assembly. If passed and signed by the governor, this law would have severely curtailed the right of these religious institutions of higher learning to operate according to the faith principles upon which they were founded and which they exist to advance.

These colleges faced unfair punishment simply for maintaining housing, hiring, and disciplinary policies consistent with their faith convictions.

Senator Ricardo Lara says he introduced the bill because, ”The goal for me has always been to shed the light on the appalling and unacceptable discrimination against LGBT students at these private religious institutions throughout California.”

Under SB 1146, if a university, even a private Christian college, accepts students who receive state financial assistance, that school must comply with several so-called ‘anti-discrimination’ directives.

Single-sex dorms would have to be opened up to transgender students. Married student housing would have to be made available to same-sex couples. And schools that consider religion in admissions or hiring would lose protections for doing so. Exemptions to Title IX, the federal statute that prohibits discrimination against a growing list of categories of students, are supposed to be offered to religious schools. The original version of SB 1146 stripped out these exemptions. Intense opposition from religious colleges brought them back.

The outcry against the bill from the leaders of nearly 30 California institutions convinced Senator Lara to pull the version of SB 1146 passed by the senate and amend it, dropping the provision that sought to deprive Christian schools from an exemption to Title IX anti-discrimination requirements.

Another provision that would have made it easier for homosexual and transgender students to sue their universities if they are disciplined for violating church teachings was also dropped.

The law still contains a sort of “naming and shaming” provision that requires Christian colleges seeking exemptions to publicly disclose that fact and to report to the state any students expelled for violating the school’s morality codes.

Senator Lara, says he’ll “study the issue further” and “pursue other legislation next year.”

This is well short of total victory. University leaders will remain vigilant but are breathing sighs of relief. Since this issue is not going away, they will preserve and strengthen the coalitions they’ve built to resist.

This is not just a state issue. What starts in California rarely stays there.

It’s good news that these leaders’ efforts yielded fruit and that they got together and built the foundation to fight this stuff. University presidents and leaders of Christian institutions responded well to a wake-up call. It took an egregious threat to the right of the Church to be the Church