This does not mean InterVarsity is banned. It and other Christian groups are allowed to meet, but derecognition does mean the group no longer will be able to recruit during official campus events or meet in rooms on campus free of charge. (Greg Jao, the organization’s national field director, told Christianity Today the loss of those free rooms on campus will cost each chapter an additional $13,000 to $30,000.)
CT‘s Ed Stetzer notes the ruling likely will impact other groups, as well. “Following the same logic, any group that insists on requiring its leaders to follow an agreed upon set of guiding beliefs is no longer kosher (irony intended) at California’s state universities,” he said. “This will impact many other faith-based organizations with actual, well, faith-based beliefs. Presumably, even People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals would have to allow Oscar Meyer to lead its campus chapters.” (Christianity Today)
Paul Asay has written for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for PluggedIn and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He recently collaborated with Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, on his book The Good Dad. He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and his two children. Follow him on Twitter.