The Left is making plans to strip accreditation from religious schools that don’t comply with pro-LGBT policies.
The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT activist group, recently released their 2020 Blueprint for Positive Change. In this blueprint, as reported by The Blaze, the HRC is planning to strip accreditation from religious schools. The Trump administration has consistently maintained policy oriented towards protecting religious freedom. The Human Rights Campaign apparently doesn’t approve of policy moves made under President Trump: “And, with the Trump administration undermining the rights of the LGBTQ community at home, it has made it impossible for the U.S. to lead with authority on protecting the human rights of LGBTQ people abroad.” With the potential for a new administration, the Human Rights Campaign is seeking a way to finally advance their agenda.
The Human Rights Campaign is already urging the Biden administration to “ensure nondiscrimination policies and science based curricula are not undermined by religious exemptions to accreditation standards.” In effect, the Human Rights Campaign wants to ensure compliance with their agenda across the board.
In the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, a provision is made in which the government must respect the stated mission of an educational institution. However, the Human Rights Campaign wants the Biden administration to amend this provision. They demand that the Department of Education “issue a regulation clarifying that this provision … does not require the accreditation of religious institutions that do not meet neutral accreditation standards including nondiscrimination policies and scientific curriculum requirements.” The HRC has explicitly stated that they want to strip the accreditation from religious schools who refuse to conform to their perception of gender and sexuality.
Combined with the long-debated “Equality Act,” one considers this measure to be potentially devastating for religious freedom in America. The Equality Act, on its surface, is simply an act which forbids discrimination on the basis of sex, gender, or sexual orientation. However, this act would bring many consequences not obvious to most external observers. As explained by Alliance Defending Freedom, a faith-based legal group, “This would prohibit employers, individuals who rent out apartments in their homes, preschools, and even religious schools and organizations from making choices based on basic biology, bodily privacy, and their beliefs about the nature of marriage. It would apply to every single recipient of federal financial assistance (including every public school and almost all colleges and universities.)” In the near future, religious schools may be forced to comply with state mandates on sexuality and gender, or else risk losing their status.
Upon reflection, one comes to realize that these actions are not lone, isolated events. Rather, that they are part of a larger movement with the goal of forcing religious dissenters into compliance. One fears that, while the principle of religious freedom is not yet lost, it may soon be beyond our grasp. In order to keep hold of liberty, one recognizes that the American people must act. The people must act in loving charity to one another, while holding fast to the truth. As the truth is the only standard upon which right and wrong rest, it is the moral anchor of a people to which they must cling. Thomas Aquinas said it best: “What the truth hath spoken, that for truth I hold.”
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