Massachusetts Town Cuts Contract With Christian College After School’s President Asks Obama for Exemption In Non-Discrimination Order

D. Michael Lindsay, president of Gordon College
IMAGE: COURTESY OF GORDON COLLEGE

A Massachusetts town cut short its contract with Gordon College after the school’s president asked President Obama to exempt religious institutions from an expected non-discrimination order.

Gordon president D. Michael Lindsay—also a CT board member—was among 14 other Christian thought and policy leaders, including CT’s executive editor Andy Crouch, who signed the letter. They asked Obama to allow religious exemptions in an anticipated executive order that could require organizations to hire people regardless of sexual orientation in order to receive federal funding.

“Without a robust religious exemption, like the provisions in the Senate-passed ENDA, this expansion of hiring rights will come at an unreasonable cost to the common good, national unity and religious freedom,” the July 1 letter stated.

Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll on July 9 terminated Gordon’s contract to manage the city’s Old Town Hall, saying in a letter to Lindsay that the college “now advocates for discrimination against the LGBT community.” The college, a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), is located in Wenham, seven miles away from Salem, and had managed a museum and theater production at the town hall.

“While I respect your rights to embed religious values on a private college campus, religious freedom does not afford you the right to impose those beliefs upon others and cannot be extended into a publicly owned facility or any management contract for a publicly owned facility, like Old Town Hall,” Driscoll said in the letter.

The letter indicates that the contract may be renewed with a revised contract that specifically protects against discrimination in the city’s partner projects with the college.

The Old Town Hall is the oldest standing municipal building in the city of Salem. Gordon managed the historic building and partnered with the city on projects like the production of Cry Innocent!—a project exploring the Salem witch trials—as well as the Salem Museum, reports the Salem Patch.

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SOURCE: Christianity Today
Kate Tracy