Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz
What percentage of staff do you think lie on those declarations so they can have a job?
Side note on that, it also seems crazy we as a country allow anyone to be discriminated on based on their beliefs, or lack thereof. Has this ever been charter challenged?
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I expect that would be a difficult challenge to prove. In my case it is a matter of my contract expiring—I haven't been dismissed, but am certain that the university has no interest in my return.
Most of the time these conflicts are weeded out in the interview process for new hires. A number of years ago I was the top candidate for a position at a small school in NYC. They flew me out for on-campus interviews and trial lectures. During a departmental meeting questions were raised about how I might handle controversial issues and historically/culturally sensitive topics in my RELS classes. At the time I had started challenging traditional Evangelical teachings on Hell and the afterlife, and used this as an example. I said that if confronted buy something like this I would be honest: I was unsure about the nature of Hell, and hoped that there was no eternal torment in the afterlife, but that this was a question I could not resolve on the basis of my understanding of the historical development and cultural roots of the doctrine of Hell.
The members of the Department were very pleased with my answer, but later the next day in a meeting with the Dean he informs me that this could be a "deal-breaker." I did not get the job, and was assured that it was not because of my theology—I have always had my doubts.
I tell that story to illustrate how these things come out well ahead of time so as to avoid the sorts of direct challenges these confessional agreements could potentially evoke. But there have been instances in the US at Christian colleges and seminaries where professors have been removed from their posts for their failure to subscribe to specific points of doctrine: most famously, Paige Patterson—the former (now disgraced) President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary led a coupe of the Southern Baptist leadership which resulted ion the ouster of several faculty members (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southe...ive_resurgence). Closer to home for me, my friend Christopher Rollston (who now teaches at George Washington University) lost his job at a Christian college because of an opinion piece he wrote in opposition to antiquated misogynistic views against women:
http://religionatthemargins.com/2012...red-despisers/.