By Gudrun Schultz
LONDON, United Kingdom, January 9, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Christian Union at Exeter University has filed suit with the High Court after the university banned the group from campus for maintaining policies opposing homosexuality.
The 50-year-old Christian Union at Exeter was barred from campus activities by the Students Guild after complaints that the group discriminated against homosexual students.
The CU asks students to support the Christian beliefs of the Union if they are going to be official members—any student is welcome to participate in meetings without full membership status, but they are not allowed to hold office with the Union.
That restriction angered homosexual students on campus, who complained that their rights were being violated.
The Christian Union issued a statement in November warning the Students’ Guild that it would face legal action if it failed to reinstate the CU within 14 days.
Ben Martin, with the CU, said: “Legal action was the very last thing we wanted to take, ” the Daily Mail reported.
“We are all students trying to concentrate on our studies, but the action by the Guild, in blatant infringement of our rights, and their reluctance to reinstate us, has left us with no alternative.”
In October 2006 the Students Guild forced the Union to change its name to the Evangelical Christian Union, after a one-time member complained the CU was too exclusive and proposed the change to the guild.
Exeter University’s ban on the Christian group was just one of several recent cases in the UK where universities have barred Christian groups from campus after complaints from homosexual student activist groups, including universities in London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
Christian Student Union Shut Out Over Refusal to Include Gays, Lesbians
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06012504.html
Edinburgh University Bans Christian Club from giving Abstinence Course
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/nov/06112210.html
UK Bishops Warn Student Unions Ban of Christian Groups “Intolerant and Unlawful”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/nov/06112407.html
Canterbury Archbishop Says Univ. Ban on Christian Unions Shows Fear of Debate
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/dec/06120803.html