Home › Row erupts over inclusivity of christian union - news from ekklesia

Row erupts over inclusivity of christian union - news from ekklesia

Row erupts over inclusivity of christian union - news from ekklesia

By staff writers
31 Mar 2004

Row erupts over inclusivity of christian union

-31/3/04

A row has erupted between a University Students' Union and a Christian Union, which will only allow people with a Christian faith to be on their steering committee.

The university of Hull students' union says anyone who can do the job, regardless of whether they are a Christian or not, should be allowed on the Christian Union's executive, reports the Yorkshire Post.

But the Christian Union, which has 50 members, says that while they encourage non-Christians to attend meetings, at the end of the day they want the people in organisational positions to be of the same faith.

Christian Union vice-president Simeon Livesey said; "This is political correctness gone mad and mad doesn't really come close ñ it is actually quite serious."

"This involves our freedom and ability to follow our faith properly. In order to follow a faith properly the leadership needs to be Christian."

Colin Hart, the director of the conservative, Christian Institute, which is backing the group and has also campaigned for Christian organisations to discriminate on the basis of faith, added: "It is completely crazy.

"Hull CU is being told that it cannot require its leaders to be Christians. It is totally intolerant of the right of students to associate with like-minded people.

"The union would not dare tell the Muslim society that it must be run by non-Muslims."

But the University of Hull Students' Union secretary Kieron Broadhead said; "We have a Jewish and an Islamic society and they abide by the same rules."

The problem began in January when the Union Council threatened to revoke the Christian Union's status as a Union society unless it changed its constitution which requires members of its executive committee to be practicing Christians who must sign the UCCF (Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship) statement of faith.

Mr Livesey said they were told they could make their constitution much shorter and vaguer, but they felt this was not honest.

Both sides have taken legal advice.

A spokesman for the Students' Union said: "The Students' Union has clear rules by which all societies functioning under its umbrella must abide and the UCCF Christian Union is no exception.

"The Students' Union Council this year voted overwhelming not to ratify the revised constitution put forward by the UCCF Christian Union, judging that a clause within it was in breach of the Union's regulations on equality of opportunity relating to societies.

"As far as the Students' Union Council is concerned...it...has been treated no differently to any other club or society and therefore the decision of Council members must stand.

"Members of the UCCF Christian Union are still being allowed to use Students' Union facilities to hold their regular meetings and are not being discriminated against in any way."

Row erupts over inclusivity of christian union

-31/3/04

A row has erupted between a University Students' Union and a Christian Union, which will only allow people with a Christian faith to be on their steering committee.

The university of Hull students' union says anyone who can do the job, regardless of whether they are a Christian or not, should be allowed on the Christian Union's executive, reports the Yorkshire Post.

But the Christian Union, which has 50 members, says that while they encourage non-Christians to attend meetings, at the end of the day they want the people in organisational positions to be of the same faith.

Christian Union vice-president Simeon Livesey said; "This is political correctness gone mad and mad doesn't really come close ñ it is actually quite serious."

"This involves our freedom and ability to follow our faith properly. In order to follow a faith properly the leadership needs to be Christian."

Colin Hart, the director of the conservative, Christian Institute, which is backing the group and has also campaigned for Christian organisations to discriminate on the basis of faith, added: "It is completely crazy.

"Hull CU is being told that it cannot require its leaders to be Christians. It is totally intolerant of the right of students to associate with like-minded people.

"The union would not dare tell the Muslim society that it must be run by non-Muslims."

But the University of Hull Students' Union secretary Kieron Broadhead said; "We have a Jewish and an Islamic society and they abide by the same rules."

The problem began in January when the Union Council threatened to revoke the Christian Union's status as a Union society unless it changed its constitution which requires members of its executive committee to be practicing Christians who must sign the UCCF (Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship) statement of faith.

Mr Livesey said they were told they could make their constitution much shorter and vaguer, but they felt this was not honest.

Both sides have taken legal advice.

A spokesman for the Students' Union said: "The Students' Union has clear rules by which all societies functioning under its umbrella must abide and the UCCF Christian Union is no exception.

"The Students' Union Council this year voted overwhelming not to ratify the revised constitution put forward by the UCCF Christian Union, judging that a clause within it was in breach of the Union's regulations on equality of opportunity relating to societies.

"As far as the Students' Union Council is concerned...it...has been treated no differently to any other club or society and therefore the decision of Council members must stand.

"Members of the UCCF Christian Union are still being allowed to use Students' Union facilities to hold their regular meetings and are not being discriminated against in any way."

del.icio.us  Digg it  Tailrank  Reddit  Newsvine  Now Public  Technorati  StumbleUpon  Facebook
Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 England & Wales License. Although the views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of Ekklesia, the article may reflect Ekklesia's values. If you use Ekklesia's news briefings please consider making a donation to sponsor Ekklesia's work here.