Univ. of Richmond and BGAV at odds on sexual orientation policy
by Robert Dilday & Michael Clingenpeel Vol. XII, No. 5, May 1999
The University of Richmond has added sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy, a move which the Baptist General Association of Virginia's top executive said puts the university and state convention at odds. The BGAV founded the University of Richmond 169 years ago.
The rewritten UR policy, approved by trustees during a regular meeting March 5. prohibits discrimination of gays and lesbians in student, faculty and staff recruitment and promotion. UR officials said the decision merely explicates a long-standing practice, although the previous non-discrimination policy prohibited bias only on the basis of gender, race, and religion. `This policy bespeaks our current practice,' said William E. Cooper, president of UR. "We do not and will not discriminate against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation."
John R. Pagan, dean of CR's law school, also applauded the decision. "It brings us into the mainstream of American higher education," he said. The decision is significant because "it guarantees that all students, faculty and staff will he treated fairly based on their talents and their achievements and that their private lives will play no role in the way the university treats them,... It also helps the University of Richmond compete with the nation's best schools for the most talented students and professors."
But the policy maybe incompatible with the position on homosexuality taken by the BGAV, which still maintains ties to UR. At last year's annual BGAV meeting, messengers "commended" to churches a statement "affirming the biblical teaching that homosexual behavior is sinful and unacceptable to Christians," while offering guidelines for expressing "Christ-like compassion for homosexual persons.”
Three years ago several churches separated from the BGAV to form a new' state convention, which now numbers about 150 congregations. [Actually the figure is 226 churches: 171 uniquely aligned and 55 dually aligned. TCP]. One of the reasons cited by the new Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia was that the BGAV's stance on homosexuality wasn't strong enough.
Since 1969, when a $50 million gift to UR from E. Claiborne Robins, Sr. was made contingent on a looser relationship between the school and Baptists, the BGAV has diminished its ties with UR. Today it allocates about $230,000 primarily for the Virginia Baptist Scholars Program, which provides financing for students from churches affiliated with the BGAV. The association also nominates one trustee each year for a four-year term; at any one time four trustees nominated by the BGAV serve on the 40-member board.
The BGAV also maintains a partnership agreement" negotiated by representatives of both the BGAV and UR that clarifies their relationship. The earlier non-discrimination clause is included in the agreement, but it is not clear if the latest action will require it to be renegotiated. Other Baptist links are the school's chaplain and associate chaplain, both of whom are Baptists, and the Virginia Baptist Historical Society, which maintains its headquarters and library on campus.
Virginia Baptist leaders expressed regret at UR's decision. "This action is very disappointing,” said Reginald McDonough, executive director of the BGAV. "In this day of relative values, it is important for institutions that are educating the future leaders of our churches and communities to advocate and model the highest standards of Judeo-Christian morality.
“While the BGAV has had a long-standing relationship with the university, in recent years our financial support has been limited to Christian ministries and the Baptist Scholars Program. Virginia Baptists certainly want to support a continuing Christian witness and ministry on the UR campus as we do on all the college campuses in Virginia. However, how the BGAV relates its support may need to be changed to reflect current realities.
The four trustees nominated by the BGAV also issued statements following the decision. Two of them -- Earlene Jessee. executive director of Woman's Missionary Union of Virginia, and Bill Wilson, pastor of First Baptist Church, Waynesboro, VA, and a former BGAV president -- said they voted against the new policy. Another former BGAV president -- Clint Hopkins, retired pastor of Churchland Baptist Church, Chesapeake, VA -- said he voted for it. Walter Harrow, a layman from Deltaville, VA, and also a former BGAV president, did not divulge his vote. "Since I did not serve on the subcommittee which studied the discrimination clause, I feel others can better explain the reasoning process which brought this action to the full board," said Jessee. "I voted against the decision and am concerned about the far-reaching consequences it may have for the relationship between the BGAV and the University of Richmond."
Wilson also said he regretted the action and noted he "would have preferred that the board maintain the policy that had been in place for many years." However, he added, "Since our only current financial connection with the university is to provide partial funding for the Baptist Scholars Program, it is not surprising that our influence has declined accordingly"
Hopkins maintained that “Jesus never made sexual habits an issue with his followers. We want to he as much like Jesus as possible, so it is not proper for us to give too much attention to sex in deciding who is in and out of the kingdom."
Harrow said he was "concerned about how Virginia Baptists may view this [action]. Virginia Baptists give financial support to the office of the chaplaincy at the University of Richmond. We also give funds to support certain Baptist scholars at the University of Richmond. We Virginia Baptists do not give funds that would be considered part of the general support of the university. I personally feel that the presence of David Burhans, chaplain of the University of Richmond, is a most important presence on the UR campus."
The Southern Baptist Convention has strongly condemned homosexuality and it excludes from membership any churches which "affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior." However, the University of Richmond has no ties to the SBC and in 1995 it withdrew from the Association of Southern Baptist Colleges and Schools, a voluntary association of administrators from Baptist universities and colleges which promotes higher education among Southern Baptists.
[BP. Mike Clingenpeel is editor of The Religious Herald; Robert Dilday is associate editor.]
[Editorial Comment: There are a number of lessons in this case study. As recounted :n the above article, the operative initial failure occurred in 1969 when the university and the BGAV bit on a $50 million bait. Why would such a proviso (“a looser relationship between the school and the Baptists") have been stipulated except to wean the school from God's truth? Now we see the culmination of such divergence. When an individual or organization spurns God's truth, it always is expressed inter alia in sexual rebellion - though it may take a long time to become public.
Review the comments of UR's law school dean, John R. Pagan. (I am not making this up. His name really is Pagan.) What an implicit confession: The "mainstream of American higher education" includes the acceptance of homosexual practice! Put that down under the heading of suspicions confirmed. Next consider his remark that the “private lives" of students, faculty, and staff “will play no role in the way the university treats them." Would such a blanket statement be true in any other illicit facet of their "private lives"? Suppose a student, faculty member. or staffer were an embezzler, arsonist, or torturer and argued that this proclivities were simply expressions of his private life. One begins to see just how inane Dr. Pagans remark is.
Another point is that the BGAV should reconsider whether to continue the Virginia Baptist Scholars Program to help Baptist students attend the university. Why would anyone encourage any student to attend such a school, much less help pay for it?
Furthermore, the other major tie between the BGAV and the University is that the BGAV funds the chaplain program ... which sounds fine. What is not mentioned in the article above is that the chaplain, David Burhans, was a signatory of the infamous joint Baptist/secular humanist statement of a few years back. To put it mildly any Baptists at UR would be better off with no chaplain than with one who finds common ground with the likes of atheist Paul Kurtz.
Think also about the comment of former BGAV president Clint Hopkins that "Jesus never made sexual habits an issue with his followers. We want to be as much like Jesus as possible, so it is not proper for us to give too much attention to sex in deciding who is in and out of the kingdom." If Jesus really is a member of the triune godhead as Baptists have always believed, and if the Bible is the written Word of God, also as Baptists have always believed based on Jesus' own words, Hopkins' position descends to flagrant heresy. And yet note that he is a past president of the BGAV.
Finally, review the innocuous statements made by the other three BGAV members of the UR board. Not one took a biblical stance. Not one was willing to condemn the new UR policy in biblical terms. One spoke of diminished BGAV influence, another is concerned about the impact on BGAV-UR relations, and the third had no substantive comment at all. Pitiful.
Is your church still in the BGAV? Should it be? TCPI