Private Christian college makes employees sign pledge

[Patsy]

The morality clauses are bull, though. I acknowledge that they seem pretty legal. I understand the idea of them and even if I disagree with their moral code, I guess that a strict Catholic school might not want remarried teachers. The thing is, circumstances change. It seems like shooting yourself in the foot to force your teachers to consider leaving the school just because life happens.

I also get annoyed by anything about kids out of wedlock, because it puts pressure on people to hide the 'appearance of evil' by having an abortion - and they should be able to choose that freely. Policies like that end up punishing people who are so in line with their (the so-called pro-life conservatives') views that they don't have an abortion - it makes no sense and nobody should be punished for not having an abortion.

[Avalondaughter]

I saw something on the news a few years ago about a teacher in a Catholic school who lost her job over getting pregnant out of wedlock and keeping the baby and was suing to get it back. The rationale was she was advertising non-marital sex to the children. She pointed out that there were unmarried male teachers who were sexually active, but since they couldn't get pregnant, no one would ever really know, so they were off the hook. She also could have kept her mouth shut and had an abortion (which the Catholic church would frown upon even more) and if they had been none the wiser, her job would still have been safe.

[cindyluvs24]

I spent my junior year of college in the Soviet Union. My roommate was a girl who attended Baylor. She was sent home for trading dollars on the black market and caught giving a blow job to a russian guy she sneaked into our dorm (they kept Soviet students segregated from evil capitalist foreigners.) I'm sure people sign lots of things. My son is a boy Scout. They make parent volunteers go thru a background check (good) and sign on the application where it says you believe in God etc. We have parents in our troop who are gay but its nobody's freakin' bizniz, least of all those uptight jerks in Irving Texas.

[emmiedahl]

I used to work at a Catholic charity and we had to sign an agreement that we would basically avoid publically embarrassing them. We had unwed mothers working there (including me at the time), Jews, a Muslim, openly gay people.

[InkyGirl]

The college I went to had all staff sign things like this, student as well had to sign life style pledges. Actually, I got a letter the summer before my Jr year saying that I couldn't come back to school unless I signed it. Somehow it had gotten forgotten during my admissions process.

Do these pledges keep people from doing things like drink and smoke and mess around? Heck, no! I knew of several professors that had fridges full of booze and then there was the cross dressing professor... :?

[lizzy]

The morality clauses are bull, though. I acknowledge that they seem pretty legal. I understand the idea of them and even if I disagree with their moral code, I guess that a strict Catholic school might not want remarried teachers. The thing is, circumstances change. It seems like shooting yourself in the foot to force your teachers to consider leaving the school just because life happens.

I also get annoyed by anything about kids out of wedlock, because it puts pressure on people to hide the 'appearance of evil' by having an abortion - and they should be able to choose that freely. Policies like that end up punishing people who are so in line with their (the so-called pro-life conservatives') views that they don't have an abortion - it makes no sense and nobody should be punished for not having an abortion.

Regarding Catholic teaching on remarriage, it is important to note that the issue only arises when a person is married a second time without the prior marriage being annulled. The Catholic church teaches that when two people contract a marriage, that marriage is maintained until death of one of the spouses. If the couple pursues a secular divorce, they are still "married" in terms of the sacrament unless their marriage is annulled.

Annulment is an official declaration that the sacrament of marriage was never confected. Grounds for annullment can vary, but the most common reasons are use of contraception in the marriage (implying lack of intent to fufill the marriage debt), improper form of the sacrament (i.e. marrying outside the Church), lack of due discretion (i.e. a hasty marriage without sufficient time to discern the suitability of the spouse for marriage).

Annulments are more common today than they were, say, 50 years ago.

You may not agree with the Catholic religion, but it is hard to argue that they are not consistent in their teachings.

[dawn9476]

What about BYU? I know their students have to follow a strict honor code. I would think that would apply to their teachers as well.

[doe]

Several years ago I gave up a retail job at a clothing store that wasn't giving me enough hours, to work as a cashier for a thrift store with a set amount of hours weekly. The day I started, I was driven down to the office of the homeless charity organization that ran the store to sign some paperwork, including a statement of faith that said I was a Christian.

That came as a shock and I certainly wasn't a Christian. I was never told anything about it during the interview. But I had already quit my other job and I desperately needed money so I signed the form. I guessed the form was part of their policy because they rehabilitated homeless people who sometimes worked in the thrift store, and they probably didn't want them hearing things like, "God's not real." So I kept my mouth shut, lied when one of the homeless girls asked if I was saved, and still find myself sour about the whole thing.

[IReallyAmHopewell]

If they do not accept federal funds it's fine. There are many such schools--and in time I'm sure we'll see some Islamic schools like that too.

[Terrie]

Some of it is that there are two types of church-affiliated colleges. There's place like the one mentioned, where they are very in-your-face Christian in terms of their students, staff and faculty. (I went to a private religious high school. A good third of our students went to these type of schools). Then there are colleges which have a historical relationship with a particular denomination, but have drifted away from it to become largely secular. Macalester College in Minnesota is a good example. On paper, it's a Presbyterian school. In reality, well, I doubt the other type of school would have rumors of nude Ultimate Frisbee games. :)

[Moony]

My mom's friend teaches there. She's been ranting about it all on FB. I had no idea about the you can't be gay part. 'Sides that,if the staff has to sign there shouldn't be a problem. Except if their mad about you can't be gay bit, which I heard that's not the problem. I also heard they've had problems before and don't want their Christian college to have professors having relationships with each other.

[Kaylee]

Not surprising. A lot of Christian schools have some ridiculous rules for both teachers and students.

My husband was asked to leave a Christian college because I wore pants at work. I ended up requesting a uniform skirt, which I had to sew myself because, while they were authorized, they only carried up to about a size 12. Meanwhile, hubby ended up saying screw religion altogether because of the crazy legalistic bs he was surrounded by there.

[Eponine]

This is not surprising, particularly with a private, non-federally-funded school. To me it's more of an issue at schools like Liberty or BYU that do receive federal funds and have super strict codes. But those two are private as well so technically they can do whatever they like as long as they meet certain educational guidelines and are non-profit.

These schools can, and do, expel students and fire professors for not meeting the moral standards. During this year's March Madness there was a big story about a BYU player who was suspended in the middle of the tournament for having had premarital sex with his girlfriend.

And then there are ones, as pointed out above, that have historical relationships with different churches so they have moral codes that aren't really enforced. But these completely private ones can do whatever they want; it's more surprising to me that this even made it to the news.

[LIzzieB]

I don't think it's legal to discriminate against people due to their religion in Australia. I think religious schools can insist that you uphold the Christian values of the school (i.e. sing hymns in school assemblies, not say anything anti-church in class), but they cannot employ or fire you on the basis of your religious practice or lifestyle.

That said, one of my friends was applying for teaching jobs, and came across a job application at a small fundie school that wanted you to tell them of your spiritual abilities, such as speaking in tongues. That may be enough to get rid of all the non-Christian applicants - they are so scared by the application form that they don't even apply!

Other Aussies, please correct me if I'm wrong - no time to go and look up the Equal Opportunity Act!

[duplessis3]

BYU is strict - professors there have to hide their cokes - even the non-LDS ones.

[Terrie]

And then there are ones, as pointed out above, that have historical relationships with different churches so they have moral codes that aren't really enforced. But these completely private ones can do whatever they want; it's more surprising to me that this even made it to the news.

They may not even have moral codes. The school I went to had long since abandoned anything but an academic honor code and the expectation that you shouldn't do anything that could get you arrested.