Shorter Controversy.

(I start this blog post with the knowledge that I am going to tick at least a couple of people off. I am a Christian and have served with the Georgia Baptist association in missions programs, so if this slant bothers you, then now would be the time where you go look at another blog post of mine. With that said, you've been aptly warned.)

I've been paying attention to the controversy surrounding Shorter University. If you're not familiar with it...let me educate you.
-Shorter University is a private, Christian university that is funded by the Georgia Baptist Convention (a subset of the Souther Baptist convention).
-Shorter hasn't traditionally kept to their heritage, and the Georgia Baptist association has distanced itself from Shorter (although it is still classified as a GB university by many).
-Shorter gained a new president, Dr. Don Dowless, who's decided that he wants to return Shorter to being an actual Christian university.
-The things that Dr. Dowless and the board of trustees are asking the faculty to sign and adhere to several things (you can view these here: http://www.shorter.edu/about/faith_integration.pdf http://www.shorter.edu/about/Philosophy_of_Education.pdf http://www.shorter.edu/about/personal_lifestyle_statement.pdf)

Now, you can read these for yourself. But the thing that has everyone up in arms is the fact that the personal lifestyle statement asks for them to abstain from homosexual lifestyle and to abstain from consuming alcohol in setting where they may come in contact with students.

I really and truly believe that, considering the college is funded by the Georgia Baptist convention, and Southern Baptists believe that the Bible prohibits certain things, such as homosexuality, and that's their religious belief, then there shouldn't be a problem with asking their professors to abstain from that lifestyle. I feel like this would be a bigger issue if this were a public university with no religious affiliation, but since this is a private, and for all intensive purposes, church-funded organization, I don't think that there should be a problem with the personal lifestyle statement.
Now the thing about alcohol consumption. I'm aware that the bible does not specifically disallow drinking alcohol, but at the same time, the bible does state that Christians should be 'above reproach' and not give anyone a reason to doubt them and their walk. Thus, the reasoning behind the school asking professors not to partake of alcohol in settings where students might be.

I honestly feel like these are acceptable things for a church-run school to ask of their professors. If you believe that people in religion are wrong for believing certain things, that's one issue. But don't start working for an organization that you know has certain beliefs and then get all furious when they ask you to adhere to a certain standard.