Friday, September 23, 2005

Girl expelled from Christian school for having gay parents

This makes me madder than Hillary Clinton having seen a uniformed soldier. From the AP:
A 14-year-old student was expelled from a Christian school because her parents are lesbians, the school's superintendent said in a letter.

Shay Clark was expelled from Ontario Christian School on Thursday.

"Your family does not meet the policies of admission," Superintendent Leonard Stob wrote to Tina Clark, the girl's biological mother.
I recognize that a private school has the legal authority to accept or reject whomever it wishes. While legally I concede their position is strong, I am offended by their "moral" reasoning.

The girl's parents are lesbians. Whether one supports parental rights for gay/lesbian couples is irrelevant, because the fact is that this child DOES have gay parents...whether anyone likes it or not. It's reality. But why should the girl be expelled from a school that is trying to teach Christian values and morality just because her parents are gay? Hell, I think her parents should be commended for (a) caring enough about her education, and (b) wanting to lay a strong religious foundation for her, despite their own contra-Christian lifestyle.

For the record, I believe every word of the Bible, and I do not dispute the Bible's view of homosexuality being contrary to Christianity. However, I also believe that it is up to God to judge, not us. If God wants to cast gays into the pit of Hell, then He will do so. If, however, He has no more problem with homosexuality than with lying, murder, sloth, greed, theft, or anything else that Christians seem to be more forgiving of than gayness...well, He will deal with that, too. And if gay couples want to come to church, introduce their kids to church, etc., then they should be welcomed with open arms. After all, accepting gays into the church is not an endorsement of their lifestyle...just of their humanity.

But read this again: "at least one parent may not engage in practices 'immoral or inconsistent with a positive Christian life style, such as cohabitating without marriage or in a homosexual relationship'." So if parents of other students tell lies, big or small, then are these kids to be expelled? After all, lying is "inconsistent with a positive Christian life style." What if one student's parent takes some copy paper home from the office, for use on the home PC's printer? That's theft...so kick his kids out? I mean, we want to be consistent, right?

This is not a post about gay marriage, gay adoption, gay priests, etc. If you want to comment on those things, fine with me. However, I hope that many of us can agree that the actions of this religious school may be legal, but they are also short-sighted. Christians are supposed to be like Jesus Christ as much as is humanly possible, who fraternized with prostitutes, thieves, and other unsavory elements in society. Alas, many of today's Christians would rather preach to the choir than jump at the chance to bring more lambs into the fold.