Crandall University in Moncton, New Brunswick (Canada) is a Christian school that used to be called Atlantic Baptist University. As you might expect, they have rules their staff and students must adhere to regarding anything that has to do with sex. In fact, the school’s “Statement of Moral Standards” requires them…

… to be sexually pure, refraining from such activities as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, and the use of pornographic materials; (Exodus 20:14; I Corinthians 6:18-20; Ephesians 5:3)

So if you’re a student who gets caught watching porn, you would be expelled. If you’re a faculty member in a gay relationship, you would be fired.

Your first thought may be, “Well, they’re a Christian school. They can do what they want. I would never go there or work there or support them, but if others want to, that’s their business.”

Here’s the problem: The Canadian government has given them over $24,000,000 in funding over the past several years:

Since 1996, the Christian university, formerly known as Atlantic Baptist University, has benefited from about $24 million in funding from all levels of government, despite the policy. … “If you’re going to use public money, it has to be used for the public,” says Josie Harding of River of Pride — the group that organizes the annual lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT pride week. “I think (funding) should be cut if they are indeed a public institution and want to enforce this. It’s against human rights law,” she says. … Earlier this month, council passed a long-term grant policy that allows Crandall University to qualify for more funding, despite its anti-homosexual rules.

As it stands, the Canadian Association of University Teachers doesn’t even recognize Crandall as a real university because of its bigoted stance:

“If an institution calls itself a university and imposes an ideological test or a faith test as a condition of being able to be a professor there, we think it’s entirely inappropriate,” CAUT Executive Director James Turk, says.

Reader Matt says his friend made this logo in Crandall’s honor:

Why they’re getting public money to discriminate against the LGBT community, I don’t know. One council member said the school deseves the money because it draws in the “best and brightest minds” in the region — I don’t know how he could possibly say that with a straight face (no pun intended) when every gay and lesbian student and faculty member in Moncton would automatically be kicked out of the running.

But if there’s enough pushback against the Moncton City Council (just to start with), maybe they’ll address the question of why they are voting to give hundreds of thousands of dollars to a discriminatory instutition. Maybe they’ll come to their senses and stop supporting the school altogether, letting other Christian foot the bill for their bigotry-endorsing school.



