Wherefore come out from among them,
and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
2 Corinthians 6:17
"The U.S. Department of Education published Friday [April28] a list of faith-based colleges and universities that requested and were granted a religious exemption from Title IX. LGBT activist groups have been calling on the government to publish the list as part of a shaming campaign called the ‘Shame List’ to pressure Christian colleges to consent to their agenda. The document reveals that an increasing number of colleges are seeking exemptions…As of April 1, as many as 232 colleges have obtained exemption from Title IX while 31 requests are pending, according to the list posted on the department’s website on Friday.It is important for Seventh-day Adventists to be aware of how Seventh-day Adventists schools have responded and are responding to Title IX especially after its reinterpretation in 2014. On the U.S.
Prior to 2009, Seventh-day Adventists had applied for exemptions for various sections of Title IX that did not correspond with their biblical values; of course the issues of transgenderism or sexual orientation were not even considered in 1972 when the law was initially enacted. But since that time, more specifically, since 2014 when the government reinterpreted and inserted protections for the transgender community in the law, Seventh-day Adventist institutions would need to apply for exemptions relating to those particular sections that were amended or reinterpreted; or they could simply allow their previous exemptions to stand and do absolutely nothing, which would compel them to comply with the new interpretations of the law.
The issue at hand is not whether or not the Seventh-day Adventist schools should file for further exemptions to Title IX, the issue is that the denomination has placed itself with most of its institutions and auxiliary programs under government regulation and scrutiny because of its 501©(3) status; and as a government entity the denomination is expected to comply with government stipulations. The only clear solution is not applying for exemptions every time a policy or law is enforced that goes against God’s Word, but rather for the Seventh-day Adventist denomination to sever its connection with the government and go back to the blueprint that the Lord had designed, a self-sustaining, self-funded, denomination with all of its institutions, including schools, hospitals, publishing houses, ministries, etc. There certainly is enough money in the denomination to do so. When the denomination departed from God’s original design, institution by institution, they have placed themselves in a position where compromise after compromise must be made in order to maintain its government status and accreditation, or become increasingly embroiled in legal disputes.
“The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul. The mark of the beast will be urged upon us. Those who have step by step yielded to worldly demands and conformed to worldly customs will not find it a hard matter to yield to the powers that be, rather than subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death… The church cannot measure herself by the world nor by the opinion of men nor by what she once was. Her faith and her position in the world as they now are must be compared with what they would have been if her course had been continually onward and upward. The church will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. If her moral character and spiritual state do not correspond with the benefits and blessings God has conferred upon her, she will be found wanting.” White, Ellen. Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5 (1882-1889), pages 81 and 83" SavedToServe/Hilari Henriques
