Trinity Western Surrenders Major Battle in War on Christianity

Trinity Western drops mandatory covenant forbidding sex

outside of heterosexual marriage

Bethany Lindsay · CBC News 

Students walk past a cross on campus at Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

Students at Trinity Western University will no longer have to sign an agreement promising to abstain from all sex outside of heterosexual marriage.

The board of governors for the evangelical Christian university in Langley, B.C., voted on a motion Thursday to drop the mandatory requirement that students adhere to what the school calls its community covenant.

The motion said the change was made "in furtherance of our desire to maintain TWU as a thriving community of Christian believers that is inclusive of all students wishing to learn from a Christian viewpoint and underlying philosophy."

The change will come into effect beginning in the 2018-2019 school year, and applies to new and continuing students.

In a written statement, TWU president Bob Kuhn said the school will continue to be a "Christ-centred" facility.

"Let there be no confusion regarding the board of governors' resolution; our mission remains the same. We will remain a Biblically-based, mission-focused, academically excellent university, fully committed to our foundational evangelical Christian principles," Kuhn said.

The covenant binds students to a strict code of conduct that includes abstinence from sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman, and it was at the centre of a long legal battle over TWU's plans for a law school.

The law school was granted preliminary approval by the B.C. government in 2013, but that was later withdrawn in the face of legal challenges.

In June, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that provincial law societies have the power to refuse accreditation for the school, saying the covenant would deter LGBTQ students from attending.

The majority judgment said that LGBTQ students who attended a TWU law school would be at risk of significant harm.

The case went to the top court after the law societies of B.C., Ontario and Nova Scotia had all refused to accredit graduates of the school, saying the covenant discriminates against LGBT students.

In B.C. and Nova Scotia, courts had sided with TWU, ruling the university has the right to act on its beliefs as long as there is no evidence of harm.

Ontario's Court of Appeal ruled the other way, calling the covenant "deeply discriminatory to the LGBT community."

Christianity, itself, is discriminatory to the LGBTQ2SIX community. How long before Christian Universities and schools are completely eliminated? Not long, I suspect.