The Threat Of California SB1146 Against YOUR Family!

Once again, California is on the forefront of Secular Society's attack against our Christian faith.  As you know, I have long praised God that our son and daughter-in-law have been so willing to sacrifice financially to allow our five grandchildren to attend Christian schools (K-12) and for our oldest granddaughter, Elyssa, to recently graduate from Westmont College, a wonderful Christian Liberal Arts college in Santa Barbara, California.  Elyssa graduated with her Teaching Credentials and I know wants to begin a long career as a teacher whose core belief is her Christian faith.

Now, all of that is in jeopardy.   Why?  Because of a current secular movement in California to severely tie the hands of all Christian educational organizations:   A threatening and overreaching bill (Senate Bill 1146) is working its way through the California legislature.  If passed, this bill would substantially interfere with the ability of California’s faith-based colleges and universities to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with their Christian beliefs.

Please watch this video of Biola University president, Barry Corey, as he explains more about this latest attack on our Christian faith:

President Barry Corey on SB1146 https://www.facebook.com/presidentcorey/videos/1183107058375118/

Friends of Biola University:  Please join me in raising awareness about a proposed California bill (SB1146) that could have severe consequences for faith-based colleges and universities like Biola. 

If passed as is, SB1146 would substantially interfere with the ability of California’s faith-based colleges and universities to believe, teach, worship, and establish standards of living within our community that are consistent with our Christian mission and convictions. 

Learn more about the bill, and how you can promote religious freedom in California and preserve Christian higher education:   http://www.opposesb1146.com/

 
More info on SB1146 from California Family Council:

We want to tell you about a critically important (and completely awful) bill that is slithering its way through the state capitol in Sacramento: SB1146.  This bill is intended to force religious colleges and universities into a dreadful choice: either give up all state funding and state financial assistance for their students, or give up any ability to maintain the school’s religious convictions and institutional identity.

The chief mechanism of this law is to restrict the non-discrimination exemptions that religious colleges and universities possess for student admissions, student life, and conduct codes for students or faculty/staff.  Secular colleges are not allowed to discriminate against students on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, religion, and a variety of other categories.  In this way, they follow similar standards applied to businesses in the Civil Rights Act and other nondiscrimination laws.

Religious colleges, however, are exempt from these nondiscrimination requirements.  Why?  Because these schools need to be able to integrate their faith into every aspect of their curriculum, student life, and educational requirements.  Requiring students to take courses in Christian theology, beginning classes or convocations with prayer, offering credit for missionary activities, or maintaining Biblically-based student conduct codes would be deemed religious “discrimination” in a secular school, but is simply the norm within a Christian school.

SB1146 would change all of this.  If a religious college or university receives any form of state assistance (as almost all do), the school will no longer be able to discriminate in this way, except in specifically theological faculties.  “State assistance” includes any participation in the Cal Grants or Pell Grants programs, which provide critical financial assistance to lower-income students.

The intent of this bill is transparent: to target Christian schools that maintain Biblical beliefs on marriage and sexuality - and to use the threat of losing government funds to force them to change those beliefs. 

It puts schools into a terrible predicament.  If they maintain their beliefs, their prospective students will not be eligible for Cal Grants, and the schools will suffer significant financial loss.  If they give in to this requirement, they compromise their core principles.   (http://www.californiafamily.org/2016/attack-on-california-religious-colleges-sb-1146/)

 
To my Christian Friends, if we do not take a strong stand for our Christian faith - the day may come when we will not be allowed to openly practice that Christian faith.  Does that sound only like strong rhetoric to you?   Well, consider what happened in Germany and in all of Europe in the 1930s when that society allowed anti-religious actions against the Jews.  

Are we in America to become the Christian "Jews" of this and future generations - through the overbearing movements in secular society to make all aberrant lifestyles the "norm" for all of us?   Think about it - for such movements as SB1146 may only be the tip of the iceberg.

And, to my Friends who are Conservative Americans, though not of the Christian faith - please do not allow yourself to feel smug because this latest movement is not trampling on your rights - yet! 

Consider the fateful words of Martin Niemöller (1892–1984), a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent seven years in Nazi concentration camps.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.

 
Friends, if we do not fight to maintain a moral balance in our current society today - will there be a future society in which you, your children, and your grandchildren will NOT be allowed to live, love, and worship in the Christian faith you hold so dear?  

Think about that - and then SHARE this message with ALL your FRANs (Friends, Relatives, Associates, Neighbors).  Let's not allow our world and our faith to be taken hostage by the Politically Correct corruption of today's secular society.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill