The woke students at Chicago’s DePaul University, the largest Catholic college in the U.S., are demanding that a religious organization be removed from campus because it expressed the belief that LGBTQ people are sinners.
On a now-deleted Instagram page, a relgious group at DePaul University called ‘Vessel’ said they “do not agree” with the LGBTQ lifestyle and agenda, infuriating many students at the Catholic school.
Vessel made a Q&A post for their Instagram page, the question asking if their group is “affirming of the LGBTQ+ lifestyle.”
In response, the group said, “We are non-affirming. This means we do not agree that the LGBTQIA+ lifestyle is supported by biblical text.”
“The greater context for this is that sin is anything that separates us from God. We are all sinners and have all fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), yet Jesus died for our sins so we can be reconciled and have a relationship with Him. That is why we would like to make it clear that EVERYONE is welcome at Vessel. This is a space where we come as we are to learn more about Jesus. We are here to grow and journey with one another regardless of our stance on various issues such as this one.”
The group cites 1 Corinthians in its post, a bible verse that says: “neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves… will inherit the kingdom of God.”
This religious group is not yet recognized by DePaul University but is in the process of becoming an official college organization.
To prevent this from happening and to ban the group entirely from campus, enraged students have started an “Eliminate Vessel” petition which has gathered over 600 signatures so far.
The petition alleges that, by expressing their religious beliefs, the group is committing “an abhorrent and a clear violation of DePaul’s Anti-Discrimination policy.”
“There’s no reason that in 2023 you should still be homophobic,” the petition’s creator, Brigid O’Brien wrote. “There’s nothing ‘sinful’ about people who identify as LGBTQIA+. As a student who identifies as bisexual myself, it makes me sad to see hatred spread around campus like this.”
O’Brien also claimed that “a large majority of DePaul students” identify as LGBTQIA+.
In a recent post to the petition site, O’Brien revealed that the officials at DePaul told her that religious groups are allowed to disagree with the LGBTQIA+ lifestyle and are allowed to believe it is sinful.
“Isn’t that crazy?!” wrote O’Brien, who is apparently unable to fathom the idea that someone’s religious beliefs might not align with her own.
The students rallying against Vessel have approached the issue as if the religious organization is solely meant to fight against those who identify as LGBTQIA+. However, Vessel is a religious organization that also happens to align its beliefs on the LGBTQ lifestyle with certain passages in the bible, not an anti-LGBTQ organization.
In a statement responding to the backlash for their Instagram post, Vessel spoke to the campus outlet The DePaulia. They said, “In no way did we intend to harm, or seem to ostracize or reject the LGBTQIA+ community at DePaul. In fact, we would much rather focus on worship and community building, key aspects of our faith community.”
“Disagreement is not harassment, but we apologize for any hurt we may have caused in how we have communicated things,” the group added.
