An example of how we get screwed in the "religion" wars

[kevinbgoode]

This really pissed me off - not so much the result of the story, mind you - but the way in which the Associated Press presented the story. Look at how this was reproduced in my local newspaper:

Appeals court: SIU should reinstate Christian student group

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHICAGO - An appeals court ruled Monday that the Southern Illinois University School of Law should reinstate a Christian group whose student organization status had been revoked because members must pledge to adhere to Christian beliefs.

The 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a district court judge's decision last July that denied Christian Legal Society a preliminary injunction that would re-establish the group's status while its lawsuit against the university proceeds.

http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2006/07/11/afternoon_evening/doc44b3d24feec55980991072.txt

Now my complaint is about the lead sentence. . .notice that they use a capital "C" for "Christian" even though this is not a proper title of a group. Then they use a capital "C" for "to Christian beliefs" at the end of that sentence.
When I read something like that, it implies to me that these people, their legal organizations and this student group involved represnt the OFFICIAL CHRISTIAN religion, something I consider a direct assault on our constitution. I've seen this done more frequently in newspapers during the past few months, but this one stood out from the very first sentence.

Notice that when the AP says "...to adhere to Christian beliefs" they don't provide a more specific term such as "their Christian beliefs" or "certain christian beliefs." Instead, it is written as if these are the OFFICIAL christian beliefs. . .with that capital C for emphasis. Now I know this might sound a little petty to some of you, but this is the kind of subtle manipulation in which the Religious Right uses the media to establish themselves as the sole arbiters of scriptural interpretation for an entire religion.

Is it just me or does anyone, upon careful reading, find their description a bit. . .endorsing?
I sent AP an email about this, but they rarely read or respond. I'll be calling their Chicago bureau tomorrow. I think one of the things we let these people get away with is attempting to establish themselves as the sole representatives of an entire religion. That has to stop. These are political organizations masked in religious beliefs, and no one has appointed them our official national religion.

[sandnsea]

1. Well I'm upset because

I can't understand how a law school doesn't know that students can form a Christian group on campus.

Christian is always capitalized, just like Judaism, Islam, Hinduism or any other major religion. It's just the rules of the written English language.

[kevinbgoode]

3. So you are saying christian is never written in lower case?

Like..."oh yes, I'm a christian." It has to be "I'm a Christian?" I can see your other point when looking at other religions -jewish, muslim are all capitalized.

Still, there is a problem with the end of that lead sentence. "Adhering to Christian beliefs" implies one official interpretation which is in the possession of this group calling itself "christian."

I think the issue with the law school wasn't the formation of a christian group, but their selection of behaviors/beliefs which were constructed to deliberately exclude gay students. There are tons of christian groups on campus - none have ever discouraged or refused membership to someone exploring religious beliefs. This particular group demanded the right to discriminate against certain groups of students - claiming that gays could not join because of their "behavior."
I disagree with the Court on the concept of reducing a cultural group to nothing more than their relationship orientation and claiming it is a "behavior." These christians don't want gays to marry' therefore gays will always engage in unsuitable behavior.. .it's a nice way of trying to ostracize gays from the greater culture and push them back into the closet.

This ruling, however, should open any campus group up to declaring any belief or behavior as justifiable to exclude other student members, simply by claiming to be "christian" themselves. This will give other groups license to exclude the christian law students from joining other groups, using the same freedom of association based on creating beliefs/behaviors deliberately targeting another group.

[sandnsea]

5. Yes, Capital "C"

I see the point re gay students. So the court ruled the Christian group didn't have to let the gay students participate? I would agree with you on that, I think the "Christian" group shouldn't be able to discriminate against anyone who identifies themselves as Christian also. I didn't click and read, like I'm always chastising others to do. :spank:

[kevinbgoode]

10. Oh, the story wasn't very thorough about the finer points

of WHO they want to discriminate against. They had a list of proper christian behaviors (you know, no sex before marriage, that kind of thing) - the little catch-all that they were taught to use to exclude any gay student was the requirement that the gay student could never have a relationship - ever. Gay students were excluded with the excuse that Christians had a right to associate with those who adhered to their beliefs - a strange little list which excluded certain people, like the gays. What bothers me about the court is their acceptance of gays as "behavioral" rather than a class of people. Making gays appear to be nothing more than people who behave a certain way is important to the wingnut Christians - because they want to force gays to be ostracized. It's just another tactic. There are tons of Christian groups on this campus - all of them welcome anyone. . .except this one.

What is curious to me is that the Court doesn't see their chosen selection of beliefs and behaviors to be a "behavior" itself - yet people they discriminate against are classified as such. My question is how much student funding should they get, and if this is the kind of precedent allowed to stand in courts, why can't ANY group declare itself Christian, make up an interpretation of scripture, and list beliefs and behaviors that target some other groups of students? Frankly, I think every other student group on campus should adopt the same policy, only pointing out to the special rights Christian group that gosh, our beliefs and behaviors are that anyone rejected for membership of your organization is welcome in ours.

[silverojo]

17. It's always capital C

Because it's a proper noun. If you say, I'm Christian, or Mormon, or Wiccan, or Jewish, or Muslim, all religions are capitalized. Not for any evil reason, but simply because they're proper nouns: names of organizations. :)

[kevinbgoode]

7. I looked it up in my trusty stylebook and dictionaries. .

The capital "C" is right. . .I wonder why I just let that slip past me for so long?

However, I'm certainly puzzled over the "Christian beliefs" line. . .what does that exactly mean?

[sandnsea]

9. It' funny this should come up tonight

I was just telling my daughter a while ago that I should go to the community college and offer to teach an adult grammar class.

My husband can't pronounce worcestershire, she can't pronounce Anapolis, and my sil can't pronounce compromise. They all insist that it's perfectly acceptable to say these words any way they want because people pronounce words differently all the time. :crazy: So if I can live with these nitwits, hell I raised one of them, your small c christian is certainly no worry to me.

I can see the problem with the Christian beliefs because there isn't a Christian concensus much beyond Christ was born and He died. Everything before, in between, and after, is all up for grabs. So I don't see how the court concluded this group could create a "belief" that would keep other Christians out.

[kevinbgoode]

11. I agree...and thanks for the little "c" help

Embarassingly enough, I have two degrees in journalism. . .hahahaha.

[tenshi816]

13. I've lived in England for 20 years

and people tell me I still can't pronounce "Worcester" or "Worcestershire" correctly! It sounds fine to me so I can't figure out what they're hearing that I'm not.

[sandnsea]

14. Oh but you try

Mine flat don't care. They're just making up words as they go. Aargh!

[tenshi816]

16. Sounds like my family,

and they do it with a strong Georgia accent so even I can't tell what they're talking about when they make pronounciations up. You should hear my dad wrestle with the word "Leicester".

[RebelOne]

15. We atheists spell christian with a lower case "c."

[NMMNG]

2. sandandsea is right

Christian is not capitalized because anybody is trying to establish themselves as the owner of Christian doctrine. Christian is always capitalized, as are the titles of all religions.

[kevinbgoode]

4. Interesting. . .

so, again,. . .the end of that sentence. . .what exactly does "Christian beliefs" mean? That this group, calling itself Christian, automatically selects Christian beliefs which become not "selected" Christian beliefs...not "certain Christian beliefs" but ALL Christian beliefs? It's rather curious - and yes, that implies to me they are some official spokesmodel for an entire religion.

[NMMNG]

12. Really I think the group is just identifying itself

as a group of Christians, so people will know the purpose of the group. That way they'll be distinguished from the Socialist group, the Environmentalist group, the Republican group etc (just throwing out possible groups).

As to "Christian beliefs", here is a basic list that most (if not all) Christians would agree on I should think.

[REP]

6. Get An AP Style Manual; All Will Become Clear

I think you're confusing Christian, which is always capitalized, with Catholic/catholic. The first is a Christian denomination; the latter an adjective meaning 'embracing many things.'

[kevinbgoode]

8. That makes sense. . .

So I'm only confused now about the AP's description of "Christian beliefs" as if there is some monolithic belief system that only THIS Christian campus group possesses.

[adwon]

18. A simple answer

It's a pretty neutral sentence. Unless there's been a massive sea change in the last week or so, most variants of Christianity regard homosexuality as a sin, dogmatically. To speak of dogma as Christian 'beliefs' is poor phrasing. It's lazy writing, to be honest. There's a difference between what the laity believes and the clergy preaches...in ANY church. The writer shows him/herself not as nefarious, but as ignorant.

Another possibility is that the opening line is derived from the decision itself. The decision should be neutral in tone because courts aren't supposed to care what you believe, just that you really believe it. It's about as silly as it sounds but it seems to keep them on the right side of the Establishment Clause more often than not.

[CJCRANE]

19. I'd tend to agree with you

that "christian" doesn't need to be capitalized. I've seen the non-capitalized word "islamic" used quite a lot, and also "english" (when used to describe someone's nationality, eg an englishman - the language "English" is always capitalized).