In his song “Cause of a Scene,” Jake Wesley Rogers laments the struggle between wanting to come out to his community and fearing the social consequences of being publicly gay. He sings: “I wish I could be like a baby…
Four years ago, a Samford study group recommended more conversation on sexuality — and got ignored
A Samford University administrator’s claim that nothing has changed in the university’s approach to excluding churches and ministries that affirm same-sex marriage is infuriating to an alumnus and former staff member who spent a year working on plans for greater…
It’s time to stop using the Bible as a sacred weapon to oppress LGBTQ people
For the last 76 years, evangelicals have been using the Bible as a sacred weapon to oppress LGBTQ people. While many people are under the impression that the word “homosexuality” has “always been in the Bible,” the reality is that…
Samford students organize silent protest over LGBTQ discrimination
About 140 students, alumni and local clergy protested silently during the weekly convocation at Samford University Tuesday, Sept. 20. The group stood outside the university’s Wright Center — some bearing posters — to protest the administration’s recent decision to exclude…
I’m now banned from ministering at a place I love
In September 2007, as a freshman at Samford University, I wrote these words: “Dr. Matthew Kerlin, minister to the university, stood near the front of the chapel and invited us to take part in the Eucharist. … Over seven hundred…
Is it possible for a Baptist school to maintain top-tier recognition and still discriminate against gay students?
Although this time it’s Samford University in the news for discrimination against the LGBTQ community, walking the line between religious heritage and academic aspirations is nothing new for faith-based schools. Last year, it was Baylor University making headlines as it…
Voting the wrong way makes Christians ‘unfaithful’ to God, Mohler says
Christians who fail to vote or who vote “wrongly” are “unfaithful” to God, Al Mohler told a group of conservative evangelicals Sept. 14. The president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and a leading spokesman for Southern Baptists…
We are hurt by Samford’s exclusion
Baptist Church of the Covenant in Birmingham, Ala., is a vibrant, Spirit-filled Baptist congregation that was formed out of protest. In 1970, when a Black mother and daughter were refused membership at First Baptist Church because of their race, roughly…
100 clergy who are Samford grads urge president to reverse exclusionary policy
More than 100 clergy who are alumni of Samford University have signed an open letter to university President Beck Taylor asking for a reversal of the school’s new policy to exclude from campus ministries churches that affirm same-sex marriage. “We…