Christian Band Gets Bumped for Refusing to Tone Down Faith Message
11.11.2005
By Jim Brown
(AgapePress) - A Christian band at Wright State University in Ohio says it has been the target of religious discrimination by the school.
"The Ambassadors" recently accepted an invitation to perform at a WSU homecoming event, but the university backed out at the last moment and replaced the Christian music group with a secular band.
The move to bump the band came after the University Activities Board asked the Ambassadors to modify their lyrics for the campus event by removing any religious references, something the band was not willing to do. Sophomore Jason Seidler, a rhythm guitarist and vocalist for the Ambassadors, says the Activities Board members argued that the school could not use public funds to pay for a religious group.
"It was kind of a shock," Seidler recalls, "because I didn't think they were allowed to do that, and I didn't really think they would have the guts to pull something like that -- something that was so obvious. I figured if they'd have done it at all, they'd have been a little more discreet and just a little more subtle than that."
But apparently the university officials felt justified in demanding that the Christian group either censor its message or give up the gig. "It was just sort of like they had us," Seidler notes, "and they pulled the rug out from under our feet and said, 'You guys can't play because you're Christians.'"
The singer-guitarist says the University Activities Board had even already drawn up a contract and agreed to pay the group. "They basically just said, 'You're the band that's going to have the job, but we want you to tone down your music, take out the name 'Jesus' or 'God' -- you know, sort of censor it for the campus since it's a secular campus,''" he explains. "They didn't want people getting overly offended because we're playing Christian music."
But to ask the group to excise its faith-based content made no sense, Seidler asserts. "We're already a Christian band, and our main occupation is that we play worship for our local campus ministry here at Wright State," he says.
According to Seidler, the Ambassadors are considering whether to file a discrimination complaint, charging Wright State University with reneging on its contract with the band. He says he has no doubt the group was snubbed for no other reason than its Christian message.