A bill now in committee in the California State Assembly would, as currently written, threaten the religious freedoms of all faith-based colleges and universities in the state and set a precedent for other organizations.
Leaders at Fresno Pacific University, working in coordination with other Christian higher-education institutions and the Association of Independent California Colleges & Universities, are calling supporters of faith-based education to immediate action. “We know this is a very unusual request, and we ask your help only because this is a very unusual situation,” said FPU President Richard Kriegbaum, Ph.D. “It will take a very large number of individual voices to have the necessary effect.”
SB 1146 has already passed the California Senate and is being considered by the Higher Education and Judiciary Committees of the California Assembly. This bill would limit freedom of religious faith and practice to activities narrowly intended to train pastors and similar vocational church leaders. This means at FPU religious freedom would apply only to the seminary and to undergraduate programs such as Bible and Christian ministry.
“At Fresno Pacific, and at other Christian universities, everything we do is a direct expression of our sincerely held religious beliefs. We pray, learn and live to serve the Lord from the basketball court to the biology laboratory,” Kriegbaum said
FPU supports the legislation’s goal to ensure LGBT students a secure learning environment. “We strive to protect all students, regardless of sexual orientation, and to provide a safe and healthy educational environment for everyone. However, limiting the religious freedoms of Christian and other religious institutions is not the way to accomplish this goal,” Kriegbaum said.
Kriegbaum and others in Christian higher education are seeking a portion of SB 1146 be rewritten. “The problem is the law’s very narrow definition of the religious freedom exemption,” Kriegbaum said. “This is why we ask you to help us protect our freedom and the freedom of other religious organizations in California.”
Please
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Pray and ask others to pray with you
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Email or call your assembly member to strongly express your concerns
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Forward this message and ask others to pray and communicate
Email/phone calls: Click here to find your Assembly Member and their contact information and here for a sample letter/email. Whether by phone or email, the message is simple: Identify yourself and express that you have strong concerns about SB 1146, offering any reason you choose, or no reason at all.
Chairs of the Assembly committees: Higher Education—Jose Medina at 916-319-2061 or assemblymember.medina@assembly.ca.gov and Judiciary—Mark Stone at 916-319-2029 or assemblymember.stone@assembly.ca.gov.
Read more from Kriegbaum at blogs.fresno.edu/connectingpoints/2016/06/08/time-for-action/