[1]
The Cost Of Faith
Ron Brown, a former candidate for the head football coaching job at Stanford University, was told that he did not get the job because of his Christian convictions.
As an assistant coach at the University of Nebraska, Brown has been open about his faith in Christ. In one interview, he recounted that he enjoys sitting on the sidelines before bowl games reading the Bible. In another instance Brown commented on his weekly radio show that Christians should shower homosexuals with love in order "to win the homosexual to Christ." He also confessed his own youthful pattern of harassment toward homosexuals and condemned that behavior. Brown continued, saying that his beliefs come from the Bible, which "clearly teaches that homosexuality is dead wrong."
Upon Stanford head coach Tyrone Willingham's departure for Notre Dame, Brown was one of several candidates for the position. Stanford ultimately opted for another candidate in what seemed to be a fair decision-making process. According to the Daily Nebraskan, however, Brown's Christianity factored into the decision not to hire him. The Daily Nebraskan quotes Stanford athletic department official Alan Glenn as saying, "[His religion] was definitely something that had to be considered. We're a very diverse community with a diverse alumni. Anything that would stand out that much is something that has to be looked at. It was one of many variables that was considered."
[2]In an article for Sharing the Victory magazine, Brown wrote of an interview he had with "a top-20 college football program. After the interview, the athletic director vacillated whether to bring me to campus for a final interview. After deliberation he decided not to, with the explanation that he did not believe my Christian convictions would mesh well with that university."
"If I'd been discriminated against for being black, they would've never told me that," he told the Nebraska campus paper. "They had no problem telling me it was because of my Christian beliefs. That's amazing to me."
San Francisco Chronicle, April 16 and April 18, 2002
Ohio Science Standards
The Ohio Board of Education is considering a proposal to open the state's science classes to discussion and debate on alternative theories to Darwinian evolution.
In 2001, the Ohio State Legislature ordered the State Department of Education to write new standards for the teaching of all subjects in public schools. The Department's first draft of the science standards promoted Darwinian evolution as an undisputable fact. But after objections that the curriculum was too one sided in its presentation, officials offered a rewrite with a more balanced perspective. The proposal currently in play says science teachers should:
• not only teach Darwin's theory, but also the scientific findings that challenge it;
• be permitted to tell students about competing scientific theories, such as intelligent design; and
• be protected from harassment for discussing such alternatives.
A Zogby national poll reveals that most Americans agree with this new approach. Seventy-one percent of those surveyed agreed that, "biology teachers should teach Darwin's theory of evolution, but also the scientific evidence against it." In the same poll, which was commissioned by the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, 78 percent agreed that "when Darwin's theory of evolution is taught in school, students should also be able to learn about scientific evidence that points to an intelligent design of life."
Citizen Link, April 8, 2002