{"id":1359,"date":"2004-09-21T17:44:04","date_gmt":"2004-09-21T21:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=1359"},"modified":"2004-09-21T17:49:13","modified_gmt":"2004-09-21T21:49:13","slug":"were-not-in-kansas-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2004\/09\/were-not-in-kansas-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"We’re Not in Kansas Anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometime T & S and BCC commenter Jim Lucas points out this interesting story<\/a>. Daniel Arkell, an LDS student at Washburn University Law School in Kansas, joined the Christian Legal Society. When the group decided to start a Bible study program, he was one of the volunteers to lead the study. However, the group then decided that he could not lead the Bible study, or become an officer of the group. Arkell filed a discrimination complaint with the university, which then revoked the CLS’s charter. The CLS is now suing the university in federal court.
\n
\nWhat are Mormons to make of this? I’m not sure. A google search shows that one church member strongly disagrees with Arkell, see this letter <\/a>(scroll down or search “Arkell”). I’m unsure if how his actions might impact any LDS student organizations (of which Arkell appears to be a member<\/a>; I’m not sure if they are also campus-funded).<\/p>\n

I haven’t looked at anything other than the news stories, and they leave a lot to be desired. It’s not entirely clear to me what the best resolution is. In addition, my tentative idea is that the resolution depends on facts which are not clear from the news stories. In particular, two key points are the school’s rules, and the CLS rules or beliefs.<\/p>\n

I’m not sure what the school’s policy is. If it prohibits all religious exclusion, my initial reaction is that that is not a good idea. Religious organizations often have legitimate reasons to exclude non-compliant viewpoints. The Jewish student association should be a place for Jewish students, the Baptist association a place for Baptists, and so forth. An overarching rule of “no religious exclusion” seems like a bad idea, on policy grounds, for all religious groups including Mormons. After all, I would hope that the J. Reuben Clark Society could exclude anti-Mormons, or FLDS nutcases. <\/p>\n

The second major factual problem is a lot less clear. What exactly was the CLS policy, and why was Arkell excluded? The CLS website lists five points of faith<\/a>. They are:<\/p>\n

One God, eternally existent in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
\nGod the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
\nThe Deity of our Lord, Jesus Christ, God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only Son, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary; His vicarious death for our sins through which we receive eternal life; His bodily resurrection and personal return.
\nThe presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the work of regeneration.
\nThe Bible as the inspired Word of God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is nothing in Mormon belief that necessarily goes against these principles. The Godhead is a little tricky, and might turn on interpretation, but the CLS statement is similar to many Book of Mormon formulations, and must be considered reconcilable with LDS beliefs.<\/p>\n

It’s not clear from the news stories, but a major potential issue here seems to be selective application of rules. The society states that CLS “affirms that the Society welcomes believers in Jesus Christ of all denominations and traditions consistent with the Christian Legal Society Statement of Faith.” Given this statement, if Arkell can meet the basic ideological requirements (which it appears that he can) then adding further, ad hoc religious requirements may be viewed as arbitrary and perhaps discriminatory.<\/p>\n

In any event, it’s an interesting situation. My opinion is tentative and subject to change. If anyone knows some more of the background facts in this case, I would be interested in hearing them, either by comment or by e-mail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometime T & S and BCC commenter Jim Lucas points out this interesting story. Daniel Arkell, an LDS student at Washburn University Law School in Kansas, joined the Christian Legal Society. When the group decided to start a Bible study program, he was one of the volunteers to lead the study. However, the group then decided that he could not lead the Bible study, or become an officer of the group. Arkell filed a discrimination complaint with the university, which then revoked the CLS’s charter. The CLS is now suing the university in federal court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corn"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1359\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}