Living Free

Paul was bold to proclaim what God had done in his life, and even in suffering, He testified to the truth of God. In Colossians 1, we find that he wrote, regarding the Church, referred to as "saints:"
27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28 Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
29 To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.

The "hope of glory," the presence of the indwelling Christ, enables us to testify to His greatness, to exercise His love, and speak His truth.  We are not called to keep our faith to ourselves, but to be examples to the world around us of who Jesus is and how He wants people to come into a saving knowledge of Himself.  We can be reminded daily of our mission and walk according to the direction of the Holy Spirit as He operates in and through us.

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In the book of Philemon, we find that Paul challenges the recipient to live according to his faith. We can read these words:
4 I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers,
5 hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints,
6 that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.

We continue to about hear about instances in which the landscapes of  American classrooms have become littered with gender ideology, including forcing teachers to use pronouns corresponding to a student's preferred "gender," which some believe is different than his or her biological sex.  This has had a chilling effect on the employment of some teachers, who have found themselves out of a job because of their refusal to buy in to this misrepresentation. 

John Kluge has experienced that.  FoxNews.com had reported this past spring that Kluge, who used to teach at Brownsburg High School in Indiana...

...sued the school district alleging religious discrimination after he cited his personal religious convictions for refusing to abide by the name and pronoun policy, opting to address transgender students by their last names instead.

He was initially allowed to do this, but then the school did an about-face, because, as Fox put it, "Some students alleged the move created an uncomfortable classroom experience and singled out students who identified as transgender and reported their concerns." The article said, "Kluge said he later resigned inn 2018 after the school reevaluated the last name policy and told him he would be fired if he did not comply with the preferred name and pronoun rule on the books." A federal judge sided with the school district, and the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, saying that Kluge's action "created an undue hardship on the district."

But, the story's not over.  Since then, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Groff v. Dejoy that allowed for a religious accommodation for a former postal employee who had requested not to deliver on Sundays.  So, Kluge's legal representatives, Alliance Defending Freedom, went back to the appeals court and there was a different outcome.  The ADF website states that the court decided to "vacate its opinion against the religious accommodation of Indiana high school music teacher John Kluge in Kluge v. Brownsburg Community School Corporation and send the case back to district court to be reconsidered in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Groff v. DeJoy.

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch said:

“Federal law protects employees’ ability to live and work according to their religious beliefs. Yet the Brownsburg school district ignored the law, deciding Mr. Kluge’s religious views couldn’t be tolerated, revoked his religious accommodation based on the grumblings of a few, and forced him to resign on pain of termination. The school district’s decision violates Title VII, a federal law prohibiting discrimination against employees on the basis of religion. As the Supreme Court recently affirmed in Groff, employers must provide reasonable accommodations for employees’ religious practice unless doing so imposes undue hardships on their overall operations. The 7th Circuit has now sent Mr. Kluge’s case back so the district court can fix its previous mistakes and apply Groff to uphold Mr. Kluge’s constitutionally protected religious freedom.”

Meanwhile, a biology professor at St. Philip's College in San Antonio has found himself without a job for teaching...biology.  The Daily Citizen reports that:

For 19 years, Dr. Johnson Varkey taught Human Anatomy and Physiology as an adjunct professor at the college in San Antonio, Texas. In November 2022, he explained to students that sex was determined by chromosomes X and Y.

Four students were upset by this, walked out of the course and complained to the administration about Dr. Varkey.

So St. Philip’s fired him.

Sorry, even though the genderverse wants to tell a different story, this is not a subject for debate. 

In January, Varkey was sent a “Notice of Discipline and Termination of Employment and Contract Letter," which included these words:

The [student] complaint contained several reports of “religious preaching, discriminatory comments about homosexuals and transgender individuals, anti-abortion rhetoric, and misogynistic banter.” While some of the subject matter may be connected to class content, it was very clear, from the complaints, that you pushed beyond the bounds of academic freedom with your personal opinions that were offensive to many individuals in the classroom.

Varkey has now filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Daily Citizen article relates that Varkey...

...notes that his Christian faith and his “integrity as an academic” compel him “to teach accurate, true concepts that comport with my many years of research and study in the field of human biology.”

The EEOC discrimination claim alleges that St. Philip’s violated both Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, terminating him based on his protected speech, religious beliefs and identity as a Christian.

Just as these teachers should ideally be free to share their beliefs, students should be able to exercise their First Amendment rights in the classroom, and an Illinois university has upheld a student's right to free speech and religion - and has offered a course correction to the teachers in charge.  This took place at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.  The Daily Citizen reported that:

...Maggie DeJong was a student at SIUE, earning a Master of Arts in Art Therapy Counseling in May 2022. While pursuing her graduate degree, she expressed her Christian and conservative beliefs on social media, in class and in discussions with other students.

Her views offended other students, so, according to the article:

In February of 2022, James Ball, SIUE’s Director for Equal Opportunity, Access, and Title IX Coordination sent DeJong “no contact” orders, forbidding her “from having ‘any contact’ or even ‘indirect communication’” with three other students in the program.

Another email informed all the students in the Art Therapy program that “Ms. DeJong was under investigation and accused her of ‘misconduct’ and ‘oppressive acts.’”

DeJong enlisted Alliance Defending Freedom to assist her legally, and ADF filed a lawsuit.  The Daily Citizen stated that ADF...

...announced that three professors at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) will undergo a First Amendment training session – provided by ADF attorneys – for violating a former student’s civil and constitutional rights.

The article also notes that ADF said:

University officials also agreed to revise both their policies and student handbook to ensure students with varying political, religious, and ideological views are welcome in the art therapy program. In addition, university officials paid $80,000.

The article ends with these words:

The Daily Citizen hopes that other universities, professors and students learn from this case about the importance of free speech and religious liberty. As ADF explains, “Universities cannot censor students because of their religious or political views,” and they “cannot ban students from speaking to fellow students or fully participating in their classes simply for expressing their views.”

In an age of reports of people having to undergo "sensitivity training" in order to revise their deeply-held beliefs, here is an actual remedy that reminds educators of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, not a progressive theory which forces Christians to leave their faith outside their workplace. With Supreme Court decisions like Groff and 303 Creative, as well as a trio of rulings last year from the high court upholding religious freedom, perhaps a course correction is underway.

We have a Constitutional guarantee of religious freedom, and where that is suppressed, we should make an appeal.  We can also consider what we are doing with the freedom of religion we do have.  We live in a country where by and large churches can operate according to their beliefs and individuals can state those beliefs, in most cases.  But, we can always be challenged to make sure that we are living out those convictions with the freedom afforded to us by Jesus Himself and by our laws.