Statement by Paul Conn, Lee University

“These are the two prongs of our institutional posture … we have to make this a safe place for students to express themselves on a whole range of attitudes,” Conn said. “We can’t marginalize people as bigots and haters if they have a very determined view against same-sex relationships, and we can’t marginalize or vilify people as perverts and hedonists if they are expressing alternative approaches. This is a college, for heaven’s sake.”
– Paul Conn, Lee University, president

Timothy Carter [10/25/2015 2:50 PM]
Dr Paul Conn is correct.

Charles Page [10/25/2015 2:52 PM]
we don’t want to be labeled as a bigot and hater and we can’t villify perverts and hedonist!!!

Timothy Carter [10/25/2015 2:54 PM]
I think we ought to take this same approach about any issue not just the homosexual. We should stop trying to villainize each other. It is not helpful to villainize one another when we are seeking the TRUTH of God’s Word. We should help one- another learn from one another stop the bickering- as the old commercial used to say, “stop the insanity!” Because it’s just not profitable.

Charles Page [10/25/2015 3:04 PM]
Timothy, Are we bigots and haters if we have a very determined view against same-sex relationships?

Timothy Carter [10/25/2015 3:15 PM]
Charles Page that would depend on who you ask. Because the words BIGOTS and HATERS hold such negative connotations with them get it implies an absolute of love. The word hate actually means to desire someone be removed from the ability to be able to repent and accept Christ as their Savior. In other words to be a bigot or to hate someone actually means to truly desire they go to hell for real. From a theological standpoint in the traditional Pentecostal view the average Christian would have the determined view to love and desire that all would come to repentance just as Christ has said. Therefore to say that we are a bigot or a hater because we disapprove of the sinful lifestyle is a misunderstanding of what sin is. It is labeling us based on mis understanding of what sin is it is not accurate thinking. The person who desires for the homosexual to repent from the sin is desiring a good thing this is not hatred this is love. Sometimes the in mature Christian manifest their desire in hateful ways which is very unfortunate. Brother Charles Page will you please post your source my dear friend?

Stan Wayne [10/25/2015 7:52 PM]
This is incredible – Lee is doomed – who would pay for their kids to go there?

Stan Wayne [10/25/2015 7:54 PM]
Moral equivalency between heterosexuality and homosexuality at Lee?

Charles Page [10/25/2015 8:00 PM]
Moral equivalency between heterosexuality and homosexuality

“Homosexuality is innate and normal” (often called the “born that way” argument).
“Homosexuality cannot be changed.”
“Heterosexual children cannot become homosexual.”
“Homosexuals and heterosexuals are separate but equal sexual types.”
“All disapproval of homosexuality is motivated by hate and fear.”
“Homosexuality is equivalent to race, and disapproval of homosexuality is like racism.”
“Homosexuals are helpless victims who need special legal protection.”
“Toleration of homosexuals requires approval of homosexual conduct.”
“Homosexual suicides and mental health problems are caused by social disapproval.”

Stan Wayne [10/25/2015 8:08 PM]
And Transsexuals do not have mental problems

Stan Wayne [10/25/2015 8:09 PM]
And people who claim to be attracted to the same sex but are only attracted to the same sex imitating the opposite sex are normal

Link Hudson [10/25/2015 11:19 PM]
I disagree. At the least, we should marginalize someone who claims to be a believer who promotes so-called same sex marriage, especially anyone who teaches the Bible. Marginalize is too soft of a word.

‘Vilify’– that sounds like the same type of rhetoric as ‘bigot’. It sounds like you are doing something wrong if you call it ‘vilify.’ What if you call something sin, promoting error, etc. Is that ‘vilifying’?

Bob Collins [10/26/2015 6:52 AM]
You know who was a great bigot “JESUS” “HE SAID I AM THE WAY,” THERE IS NO OTHER WAY. Notice what He called the religious confessing, but not possessing people, snakes, etc. Paul, must have been a bigot in Rom 1. Yes, God loves all sinners, which that includes all humanity, but He died to forgive us and change us from the fallen nature. God created a man and a woman to give life. Not two people of the same sex, which is impossible, therefore that style of relationship is not a natural relationship but a choice made by those who so choose.

Stan Wayne [10/26/2015 7:42 AM]
Abandon Lee

Charles Page [10/26/2015 10:18 AM]
can’t Lee U expel the bigots, haters and those who marginalize and vilify homosexuals and gays? It is a college for heaven’s sake!

PentecostalTheology .com

3 Comments

Reply May 16, 2016
Mary Ellen Nissley

This is really the only legally-defensible long-term position Lee University can take, for a college receiving Federal funds. And given the current direction the Supreme Court is headed on this issue, it is wise to consider legal defense. This is fast becoming a civil-rights issue, on the same legal grounds as racial equality.

All he is doing, legally, is defending the right for anti-homosexuals to speak out just as strongly as they want to… but at the same time, he is opening the door for a conversation on-campus with the other side of the argument.

To those ruled by fear, this is too scary. They want a safe place for their young adults to get a degree, without having to really engage in the real world, or in real-world conversations.

But as the mother of some strongly Christian young adults… I am on the side of Paul Conn in this.

Parents need to untie those apron strings, and trust their kids into the hands of their God.

If your college student is not allowed to be an adult, talk with sinners, and make some mistakes, he/she will never grow up. And as a parent, you will regret this years down the road.
Reply May 16, 2016
Emily Carlsson-Shoemaker

Well said.
Reply May 16, 2016
Gary Smith

I am highly disappointed by Dr. Paul Conn’s statement. Lee is supposed to be a “Christian Universiry,” one that places an emphasis on God’s Word. We should expect students to live by that Word, to be taught the Word, to hear what sin is and so forth. We should be defending the Word of God, not perverts who, under the influence of satan, are confused about their own sexuality. The Bible is plain on this subject. I am Church of God, but I wouldn’t send my children to Lee if this is what they are going to be taught. Are we following God’s Word or the “times we are living in?”