Shorter University may fire those refusing to sign “personal lifestyle pledge”
Shorter University is requiring its employees to sign a pledge saying that they are not gay. And any employee who refuses to do so is at risk of getting fired.
The New York Daily News reports that the Georgia Christian Baptist university sent out a “personal lifestyle pledge” to its employees on October 26. By signing the pledge, employees are pledging to reject homosexualioty, premarital sex, adultery and other behavior that the university maintains violates the Bible.
School president Don Dowless said that those who refuse to sign the pledge are at risk of being fired. “I think anybody that adheres to a lifestyle outside of what the biblical mandate is would not be allowed to continue here,” he said.
In addition, the pledge prohibits employees from drinking in front of students and using drugs and requires employees to be active in a local church.
“We now will live in fear that someone who doesn’t like us personally or someone who has had a bad day will report that we’ve been drinking or that we are suspected of being gay,” one employee said about the pledge.
The school maintains that it has the right to hire and employ whomever it wants.
The pledge does not apply to students.
What do you think? Does Shorter University have the right to make employees sign the pledge? Will the pledge, as the unnamed employee fears, cause “witch hunts” to occur on campus? Share your thoughts with us below!
