"This part of Samford is affirming!" is what the poster found hanging on a window in William Self Propst Hall says, printed with a rainbow background. The door also has a small rainbow flag heart sticker.
Ashlyn Carter, a Samford University alumnus, who was sent the images from a trusted friend, told 1819 News, “This is confusing to me—I was under the impression that faculty support the University’s Faith & Learning Initiative.”
Which meant to her that professors, “not only present materials through a Christian worldview but, more foundationally, agree upon one source of truth, as biblical Christianity does.”
Samford University did not respond to two inquiries this week — one regarding their policies related to the promotion of LGBTQ+ issues, and then, once the flyer was confirmed, providing them with a copy and giving them the opportunity to respond to concerns about it.
The professor whose door the flyer is posted on also did not return an email inquiry sent early Thursday morning.
Just over two years ago, Samford University rejected formal recognition of an LGBTQ organization.
A Samford Crimson story quoted a portion of president Beck Taylor's letter to the group: "Extending official university recognition to a student organization that advocates for beliefs and behaviors contrary to the religious values of Samford would be inconsistent with my responsibilities as president."
Earlier this year, 1819 News revealed that the Samford honor code, which is required to be agreed to by each student, treats one's "gender identity" as a protected class alongside sex, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, and sexual orientation.
Christian organizations across the nation have spoken out against the pervasive recognition of "gender identity," the most commonly "affirmed" part of the LGBTQ community.
For example, in 2014 at the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting the group passed a resolution that said in part, "God's design was the creation of two distinct and complementary sexes, male and female (Genesis 1:27; Matthew 19:4; Mark 10:6) which designate the fundamental distinction that God has embedded in the very biology of the human race," and that, "Distinctions in masculine and feminine roles as ordained by God are part of the created order and should find expression in every human heart (Genesis 2:18, 21–24; 1 Corinthians 11:7–9; Ephesians 5:22–33; 1 Timothy 2:12–14)."
Carter said, “I truly understand the desire to be compassionate, and we should be. We are commanded to be. But 1 John 4:8 tells us that God is love. He created it. Thus by logic, he is the only one qualified to define it.”
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