University of Kentucky vs. Evangelical

In a recent article in the New York Times, it is noted that Dr. Martin Gaskell is suing the University of Kentucky for discriminating against his evangelical worldview. The article states his faith was examined during his interview with chairman, Dr. Michael Cavagnero, and it was expressed to him by the chairman that his religious beliefs and his "expression of them would be a matter of concern."

According to the article, a department staff person wrote in an email regarding Gaskell's hiring, "Clearly this man is complex and likely fascinating to talk with, but potentially evangelical. If we hire him, we should expect similar content to be posted on or directly linked from the department Web site."

According to UK's own faculty and administration, they feared bad publicity. UK's Moshe Elitzur stated this in his deposition, "There's no way you can avoid the headline in The Herald-Leader saying 'U.K. hires a creationist for public outreach.'" Dr. Gaskell's lawyer has a brilliant rebuttal in reference to Elitzur's statement, "I couldn’t have made up a better quote. ‘We like this guy, but he is potentially Jewish’? ‘Potentially Muslim’?”

You can read the rest of the details here, but I just found it very interesting.

Persecution comes in all shapes and sizes, but usually it is not as drastic in the Western world.  It is know as "discrimination" here and it usually comes in mild forms that don't include crosses, burning people alive, wrongful imprisonment, etc. This by no means compares to the physical persecution that many of our brothers and sisters face in different parts of the world, but it is still a serious form of persecution none the less. If Dr. Gaskell's claims are true and the court does not rectify this situation, this has the potential to be the beginning of a new wave of religious discrimination in the West. A wave that will greatly impact me and my family.

Food for thought on this fine Thursday. :)

Much love.