Though medical organizations are unanimous that neither IUDs nor the so-called ‘morning after’ pill are abortifacients, Wheaton College — Billy Graham’s alma mater, and Bart Ehrman’s — has elected to discontinue sponsoring health insurance for its students rather than ‘facilitate’ provision of contraception to them by writing a one-paragraph letter to Uncle Sam.
An opinion piece at Huffington Post gets the significance of the decision exactly right.
When Belief Becomes More Important Than People
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Nonetheless, the College has made a profound choice — belief over people. While claiming a position that values life, the College has made choices that value the potential life of a possible fertilized egg over the actual lives of students who may well require insurance coverage in the present to avoid or treat life-threatening and health-compromising conditions. So in the name of fidelity to a theological belief, the College has prioritized potential human beings over actual ones.
I’m not saying theological beliefs are unimportant, but I am disturbed that in the name of Christianity, a college would put its principles over its people.
She should not be surprised. Conservative Christians believe that even wedding vows are expendable in the name of pleasing the Invisible Wizard, and forget entirely that moral principles are mutable and arise out of circumstance with the aim of preserving the tribe; they have forgotten the goal that their principles are meant to serve.