A Christian mentoring program is canceling its California-located summit after a bill about sexual orientation change efforts and business practices passed through the California State Assembly.
Summit Student Conferences, a mentoring program helping high school and college students live out their Christian faith, announced the Biola University summit’s cancellation due to a values clash with the state they were planning to host.
If enacted, Bill AB 2943 would insert new statues into the state’s Business and Professions Code, affecting organizations “offering to engage in, or engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual.” It would prohibit “efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”
According to the Daily Wire, some are calling this bill a precursor to the criminalization of religious groups that support a traditional view of marriage and sexuality.
Summit’s program features speakers who advocate for traditional marriage and a biblical view of sexuality. The program is passionate about equipping students to apply their Christian faith to everyday life. At times, students ask questions or express confusion over sexuality and traditional marriages. Summit Ministries believe Bill AB 2943 would prohibit those conversations, rendering some sessions impossible to hold.
“This is the most blatant chilling of free speech in America in my lifetime,” said Summit President Jeff Myers. “What are we going to say to a young person experiencing sexual confusion? That the state of California forbids us from allowing a biblical ethic embraced by billions of people for thousands of years to inform our answer?”
Summit Ministries will continue to hold their other summits in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Colorado.
“Now is the time for Californians to rise up and challenge their representatives to respect biblical values,” Myers said. “To that end, we’re doing everything we can to mobilize our California alumni to exercise their power as citizens and work to prevent this bill from becoming law.”
To Summit, the proposed legislation is nothing short of an infringement upon constitutional rights, but the group is determined to continue encouraging and equipping students.
“We cannot and will not bend God’s truth to accommodate the state of California.”
