AFA agrees First Amendment protections for religious exercise and free speech protect Seattle Pacific from abuse of governmental power
August 8, 2022
TUPELO, Miss. — The American Family Association (AFA, www.AFA.net) is voicing support for aChristian university as it resists government tyranny in the form of a civil rights investigation framed to force the university to hire openly LGBTQ instructors in violation of the school’s Christian beliefs.
Seattle Pacific University said in its complaint against Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, “The attorney general is wielding state power to interfere with the religious beliefs of a religious university, and a church, whose beliefs he disagrees with. He is using the powers of his office (and even powers not granted to his office) to pressure and retaliate against Seattle Pacific University.” The university further accurately says in its complaint that the First Amendment religious exercise and free speech clauses protect “the ability of religious organizations to follow the teachings of their faith on marriage and sexual relationships outside marriage, and to maintain policies consistent with those beliefs.”
AFA Executive Vice President Ed Vitagliano encourages Christians to steel themselves to speak the truth in love but to remain steadfastly committed to the truth about marriage and sex as revealed in the Bible.
“As our nation becomes more polarized, the radical secular left seems far more open about its hostility toward Christianity,” Vitagliano stated. “What Washington state’s attorney general is doing is a chilling example of how sexual deviancy is becoming the weapon of choice against Christian institutions and individuals of faith. The LGBTQ community used to say it only wanted to be treated equally and left alone. Now their activists are becoming the stormtroopers of a Marxist movement that wants to bludgeon all who refuse to be subjugated.”
For over 40 years, AFA has operated within the mission to inform, equip and activate individuals to strengthen the moral foundations of American culture and give aid to the church here and abroad in its task of fulfilling the Great Commission. Founded in 1977, AFA has long been on the front lines of America’s culture war. Today, AFA is one of the largest and most effective pro-family organizations in the country, with nearly a million online supporters and approximately 110,000 subscribers to The Stand (formerly known as the AFA Journal), the ministry’s monthly magazine. Find AFA Action Alerts here. In addition, AFA owns and operates nearly 180 radio stations across the country under the American Family Radio banner.
View the media page for AFA here. For more information on American Family Association, visitwww.afa.net or follow AFA on Facebook or Twitter @AmericanFamAssc.
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