Hill: An Obama 'crack down' on religious colleges?

Is President Obama about to "crack down" on religious colleges and universities?

At least one professional educator is concerned about it.

Dr. Everett Piper is the President of Oklahoma Wesleyan University in the Tulsa area. If you've never heard of "OKWU" (you have to include the "K," because "OWU" actually stands for "Ohio Wesleyan University"), that's not surprising. It's a small, Christian liberal arts college with approximately 1100 students. As the school's name implies, it is affiliated with the "Wesleyan Church of North America" Christian denomination. But never mind that Piper heads-up a small school. He has concerns about what could potentially become a big problem for himself, his students and staff. And if you're involved with Southwestern College or Grand Canyon University or Phoenix Seminary here in Arizona - this could be a problem for you, too.

Last year, Barack Obama stated from the campaign trail, that all religious organizations in America that accept any sort of federal funding, should be forced to "fully comply" with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In this case, to "fully comply" means, in part, that an organization must not "discriminate" in its hiring practices. And to not discriminate in hiring practices means that one cannot give preference to certain job applicants because of their religious beliefs.

So why is this a problem for "OKWU" - or any other religious college or university?

Approximately 80% of OKWU's student body receives some sort of federal financial aid money. That federal money in turn gets spent by students at a university that - no great surprise here- intentionally hires and employs other Christians.

Of course, federal student aid being spent at religious schools is not new. "Back to the day of he G.I. Bill" Piper explains, "federal financial aid has been defined as money granted to a particular student, not to a particular academic institution. The choice as to where to spend that money has always been left to the student to make."

So why would there be a threat that our government's policy on federal financial aid could change?

"The threat emanates from the president himself," Piper claims. Citing the "Civil Forum" presidential debate between Obama and John McCain, hosted by Reverend Rick Warren of California's Saddleback Church last August 16th, Piper notes that Warren asked Obama a question specifically about this issue. In response to Warren, Obama stated "When it comes to the programs that are federally funded, then we do have to be careful to make sure that we are not creating a situation where people are being discriminated against…"

Obama's response certainly raises the possibility that students could eventually be prohibited from using their federal financial aid at a religious school. "Almost every college in the nation, religious or secular, has students that qualify for federal aid" Piper adds. "It's possible that the way in which ‘discriminatory hiring practices' is being interpreted, could imply that a Jewish school could not refuse to hire a supporter of Hamas, a Muslim school could not refuse to hire a Christian, a Protestant school like ours could not refuse to hire a Catholic, and a Catholic school could not refuse to hire a Protestant."

But why must we assume that anti-discrimination hiring policies would be interpreted in the worst, most extreme way possible? "In the past 12 months, there have been many decisions made by agents of our federal government that, 24 months ago, would have been un-imaginable" Piper stated. "Our U.S. government is imposing unprecedented restrictions on the private lives of Americans."

Piper sees this dilemma as potentially constraining Americans' freedom of religion, freedom of association, and the freedom to make intellectual distinctions. He's genuinely concerned that the Obama Administration and the Congress may seek to impose this new interpretation of "anti-discrimination" on his, and other religious organizations, and he's calling on Americans to raise the issue to their elected members of Congress.

"Americans need to ask their Senators, their Congressmen, and our President, what do you intend to do here? President Obama had remarks about this type of ‘anti-discrimination' policy on his campaign website, BarackObama.com, as recently as a few weeks ago. If our government pursues this course, this will force a lot of schools like ours to simply close down."

Along with Piper's question of "what do you intend," I'd pose another question: why? Why, in the midst of the turmoil that Americans are already facing, would it be a priority in Washington to take away a school selection choice that has been afforded to American college students for over 65 years?

Perhaps Senators Kyl and McCain, and Representatives Mitchell, Shaddegg, Flake, and Franks could answer those questions. But we have to ask them, first.