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Christian conservatives at odds with liberal R.I. university
PROVIDENCE, R.I. –Leaders of a conservative Christian student fellowship suspended from using campus resources at Brown University are wondering whether they were singled out for their beliefs and are pressing school officials to explain the punishment.
Brown University has not publicly explained why it suspended the Reformed University Fellowship, which is allied with the conservative Presbyterian Church in America, as an official student group, except to say the group failed to follow university guidelines.
The fellowship’s leaders acknowledge they can’t prove their conflict is a religious or cultural clash. But they are suspicious and are trying to publicly shame Brown, which has a reputation as the most liberal school in the Ivy league, into offering a more detailed explanation.
“RUF’s beliefs are out of the mainstream at Brown,” fellowship president Ethan Wingfield said. “Where does Brown University come off thinking they don’t have to defend their actions, particularly when they’re restricting the rights of a student group to assemble on campus?”
In an e-mailed statement, Brown spokesman Michael Chapman said the fellowship had violated guidelines governing campus religious groups.
He did not say how, but another Brown spokeswoman sent an eight-page document listing rules that apply to outside religious leaders who want to minister at Brown. The document lays out a long list of rules that both Brown and outside group leaders must adhere to, including a ban on harassment or proselytizing.
In an e-mail sent to students, associate Brown chaplain Allen Callahan complained the group’s leaders were contemptuous, dishonest and generally wasted administrators’ time, patience and energy. He didn’t return a telephone call seeking comment.
The fellowship subscribes to a denomination that believes in Calvinism, opposes ordaining women and gays and holds the Bible as the inerrant word of God. Its members split from a southern Presbyterian sect in 1973 because believers perceived a liberal drift in the parent body.
Edward Park, a Brown graduate who now ministers to the fellowship, acknowledges that ideology can make group members a little defensive on a liberal campus.
“We wonder who among the administration might not like us because of who we represent,” he said. “We’re definitely on guard a little bit.”
Park said the fellowship’s problems with Brown began when a previous fellowship minister forgot to file the required paperwork on time with the chaplain’s office.
In September, Park, who’s seeking ordination, submitted the same paperwork but had it rejected. Wingfield said Brown officials claimed that Trinity Presbyterian Church, which helps oversee the student group locally, had withdrawn its sponsorship.
But the church is still supporting the group, Trinity’s pastor, David Sherwood, said, adding that Brown’s claim was based on a misunderstanding.
Other evangelical groups, such as College Hill for Christ, he said, seem to exist at Brown without trouble.
“My impression of Brown is it’s a liberal institution in the best sense: it’s a marketplace of ideas,” he said. “All we’ve ever wanted is a place at the table.”
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