InterVarsity Denies It Will Fire Employees Who Support Gay Marriage
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA is denying the claims of a Time Magazine story that it will be firing employees who support same-sex marriage.
Time Magazine published a story on Thursday that stated that the evangelical Christian group was going to begin "involuntary terminations" for staff who support gay marriage.
In a statement posted to its Facebook page, InterVarsity denied the validity of the Time story, saying that it "wrongly stated that InterVarsity is firing employees for supporting gay marriage."
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"That is not the case. In fact, InterVarsity doesn't have a policy regarding employee views on civil marriage," stated InterVarsity on Thursday evening.
"We do continue to hold to an orthodox view of human sexuality and Christian marriage, as you can read in our Theology of Human Sexuality Document at the bottom of the article."
InterVarsity went on to note that "LGBTQI people have experienced great pain, including much caused by Christians."
"That said, we believe Christlikeness, for our part, includes both embracing Scripture's teachings on human sexuality—uncomfortable and difficult as they may be—as well as upholding the dignity of all people, because we are all made in God's image," continued InterVarsity.
"Within InterVarsity and elsewhere in the Church, there are LGBTQI people who agree with this theology, at great personal cost. We are learning together to follow Jesus."
InterVarsity is based in Madison, Wisconsin and boasts chapters in over 650 college campuses.
"Staffers are not being required to sign a document agreeing with the group's position, and supervisors are not proactively asking employees to verbally affirm it. Instead, staffers are being asked to come forward voluntarily if they disagree with the theological position," claimed Time.
"When they inform their supervisor of their disagreement, a two-week period is triggered, concluding in their last day. InterVarsity has offered to cover outplacement service costs for one month after employment ends to help dismissed staff with their résumés and job-search strategies."
While InterVarsity has been criticized for maintaining its traditional view on sexual ethics, some, including the American Conservative, commended the Christian organization for making sure that its positions are clear and enforced given potential litigation.
"I've talked to people in religious schools, both Catholic and Protestant, who are being advised by their lawyers to draw clear, bright doctrinal lines right now, and enforce them. If they don't, the lawyers advise, they are going to have a hard time in court if they get sued," stated one writer from the American Conservative.
"I am sure that InterVarsity did not want to take the hard stand it has taken, but I am also sure that its lawyers told its leaders that they had no choice."
