Marching to Madness

By: American Decency Staff

As I write this we are in the midst of March Madness.  That bracket-busting, basketball-filled time of year where it seems most everyone becomes a basketball fan to some degree or another. Whether you analyze the stats of each team before making your pick or, knowing nothing about basketball, select teams based on their name or the cuteness of their mascot – filling out brackets is a national pastime.  

For most, the thrill of victory will turn into the agony of defeat.  My home state of Michigan practically declared a state-wide period of mourning as our #2 seed Michigan State lost to a #15 seed team in the very first round.  The loss was considered by many to be the biggest upset ever in the history of the NCAA tournament.  While fans from the Mitten state were still wiping our tears, University of Michigan lost later that same day.

While we console ourselves, saying it’s just a game, we live in a culture that takes sports and entertainment more seriously than just about anything else. When it comes to colleges and universities – forget about academic honors, they want their team in the NCAA tournament.  You want to boost enrollment or increase alumni donations?  Build an elite sports program that will make it to the Final Four. College presidents know what will butter their bread.

As a result, the NCAA is far more than just a league of college sports teams.  Their clout is massive.  This was exemplified last year when the state of Indiana sought to pass a religious liberty bill that would offer some protection to Christian business owners from being forced to compromise their beliefs and participate in gay marriage ceremonies.  Indiana also happens to be the state where the NCAA Final Four tournament is held each year.  Threatening to pull the tournament out of Indiana, the NCAA, along with support from corporate America, brought heavy pressure upon Indiana Governor Mike Pence in opposition to the religious liberty bill.  The arm-twisting worked and the legislation was gutted.

Now the NCAA is being urged to further the LGBTQ agenda and bring their pressure to bear upon Christian colleges and universities.  More than 80 lesbian, gay, and transgender groups have sent a letter to the NCAA pressuring them to “divest from all religious-based institutions” that they claim discriminate against transgender students.

For a little background, in 1972 Title IX became law –which prevents federal education funding, including federal student aid, to institutions that discriminate on a number of bases including gender. 

However, in 2014 President Obama used his pen to apply Title IX to LGBTQ issues, including adding “transgender” to that protected class.   This is why we see schools bending over backwards to allow “transgender” students to use the bathroom of their choice – they are afraid of losing federal funding.

Yet part of the 1972 law has always included the right for religious colleges and universities to request exemptions from Title IX provisions which compromise their religious beliefs.  Since President Obama expanded Title IX to include the sexual alphabet, numbers of Christian colleges and universities have requested and received such waivers from the Title IX LGBTQ provisions.  Under the law, Christian institutions whose convictions would be compromised have every right to seek such waivers.

Yet the LGBTQ groups pressuring the NCAA want those Christian institutions expelled from the NCAA, stating:  “we call upon the NCAA to act on its stated values as an LGBTQ-inclusive organization and divest from these schools who are willfully and intentionally creating an unsafe environment for LGBTQ students.”

As Al Mohler esplains: The kind of pressure we’re looking at here is not at all subtle. It’s an overt attempt to try to marginalize Christian institutions that will not join the moral revolution and to marginalize them, in this case, where it might hurt a very great deal.

The threatened penalty here is exclusion from participation in the NCAA. That is absolutely massive when it comes to American higher education and to the larger context of American culture. We’re looking here at an overt attempt to try to state that these Christian schools are outside the cultural mainstream and simply don’t belong. The moral revolutionaries are now arguing that these colleges and universities based in Christian conviction do not belong on the list of federally approved institutions for federal student aid. They are also now arguing directly to the NCAA that that organization legally defined as a voluntary association is obligated by its own claim to LGBTQ-inclusive policies to divest in terms of relationships from all religious-based institutions that in the eyes of the LGBT revolutionaries now discriminate. We’re looking here at exactly what we’re going to face in many other arenas. …

The moral revolutionaries understand what will be the result of the NCAA divesting from these Christian institutions: it will mean their continued and advanced cultural marginalization. That’s exactly what they’re looking for. As a matter of fact, that’s overtly what they are demanding. … The question is, quite honestly, whether that’s sooner or later. In all likelihood, it’s going to be sooner.

The squeeze is on and the pressure will only increase both upon Christian institutions and individuals.  However, what remains to be seen is how we react when the grip tightens. Will these Christian colleges remain faithful to biblical principles – no matter the cost?  What will be the answer when the NCAA demands that they either compromise their convictions on sexuality and marriage or be booted from the NCAA and all its benefits?  Will they cave or stand?  Will we?  It’s a question every Christian may soon have to answer. 

 

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