Because Roger Ailes thinks that Christians are being besieged by the forces of atheistic secularism, he is always willing to provide a national "news" platform for aggrieved Christians who are quite upset about the Vanderbilt University non-discrimination policy that was recently clarified as a result of a discriminatory action, taken by a Christian group, against a gay Christian. Some Vandy students, who are also College Republicans, are very upset about the policy which, they say, infringes on their religious freedom. Ailes has come to their rescue and Fox & Friends, his "morning happy-talk show that Ailes uses as one of his primary vehicles to inject his venom into the media bloodstream," has done six segments which attacked Vanderbilt and validated the Christian complaint. One of the segments featured Ailes' personal priest Fr. Jonathan Morris who, not surprisingly, spoke out against the policy. Yesterday, he made his another appearance on the second anti-Vanderbilt segment of the weekend. Unlike his other sermon, during which he accused the Vanderbilt leadership of being "slimey," his take was kinder and gentler
On Fox & Friends, atheists are public enemy number one. So the Vanderbilt issue is a nice way to morph the fear and loathing of atheists meme with the persecuted Christian meme. Thus, the Fox & Friends focus has not been on the actual discrimination that brought on the "controversy" or the sentiment of those who support the policy; but, rather, the scary thought that atheists could infiltrate the Christian groups and - gasp - become leaders. Yesterday, Dave Briggs didn't disappoint. He explained - wait for it - that the non-discrimination policy means that atheists can lead bible studies and prayer groups. For the third time, the video of the Vanderbilt College Republicans, whining about how the policy "threatens to destroy the integrity of each of our religious organizations," was shown. Agitprop Cavuto marked (Ignore the question mark) chyron presented the Fox message: "Assault on Religious Liberty, Students Urge Vanderbilt to Change Policies."
Father Morris said - are ya ready for it - "I think we should be careful not to blow this out of portion" - ROFLMAO - this is the eighth Fox & Friends fact free attack on Vanderbilt. He said that he didn't think, as some do, that this policy is unconstitutional and that if Vanderbilt, as a private institution, doesn't want to allow some religious groups, "we need to respect that." But then he added that the problem, "what the good students are standing up for" is that the school is saying "we want religious groups, but don't be too religious." He explained that the policy means that groups can't have, in their by-laws, the requirement that members of the group have to share the beliefs that the school stands for.
Camerota articulated what many Vanderbilt students are saying; i.e. that they don't have to elect those who don't share these beliefs as a leader. Morris agreed that "it's probably not going to happen" but expressed some skepticism because when he was in student government they encouraged students to be very specific in their by-laws "as a way to continue the identity of that group." (Note Morris went to the conservative Catholic Franciscan University). He added that part of the by-laws should include a stipulation as to what the leadership should be like. What he's not telling the audience is that some of the Christian groups at Vanderbilt don't want gays in their leadership and that's why the policy has been clarified because it's discriminatory and doesn't comport with the school's general non-discrimination policy. He used the example of how a chess club should be able to require proficiency in chess as a basis for how a Baptist club should be able to require that their leader believe in Baptist theology.
While the two weekend Vanderbilt segments weren't as strident as those done by the weekday crew - Camerota asked two hardball questions and the Vanderbilt comments weren't read with sarcastic inflection - it was still propaganda -and effective propaganda at that because one of the padre's Facebook pals said that the policy isn't "remotely consistent with the notions of freedom of religion. This smacks of the secular progressive agenda of freedom FROM religion." Fr. Morris is getting the job done. But that's because he's on a mission from God - in this case Roger Ailes!
Actually, I believe that there’s no need for “proficiency” in chess to belong to a chess club. Belonging to a chess TEAM, yes—that requires a certain level of proficiency. But joining a chess CLUB, not so much. The only requirement for membership in a club would be to love the game or simply be an enthusiast. Yes, it would probably help to be highly proficient in the game but that would be more for one’s own self-esteem (getting your tail whupped in match after match might dampen your enthusiasm) but if you’re more into enjoying the game for its own sake, your win-loss ratio is probably secondary.
Now, will people proficient in chess be more likely to join a club rather than those who are just kind of “take it or leave it?” Probably. But, by the same token, I would strongly doubt that any die-hard atheist would feel compelled to join any sort of Bible studies club, especially one that insists on including prayers as part of the meeting. (An atheist might join a Bible studies club that opts to, you know, actually STUDY the Bible for its various NON-religious aspects. The Bible is a source of beautiful poetry and inspires everyday language as well as major works of art—not just paintings and sculptures but literature. And, unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be very much in the way of “Bible study” that touches on this aspect of the Bible.)