Christian Union (students) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Christian Union (with space) redirects here. For the Dutch political party see ChristianUnion
ChristianUnion
The ChristianUnion , abbreviated to CU, is a Dutch Christian democratic political party. A centrist party, the CU's policies combine social conservatism and soft euroscepticism with more centre-left positions on economic, immigration, and environmental issues.Founded in 2000 as a merger of the...

(no space), and for other meanings see Christian Union (disambiguation)
Christian Union (disambiguation)
Christian Union may refer to:*Christian Union , a university or college student Christian group*ChristianUnion, a Dutch political party *Churches of Christ in Christian Union, an evangelical Christian denomination in the U.S....

.

Christian Unions (CUs) are evangelical

Evangelicalism

Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...

Christian student groups. They exist in many countries and are often affiliated with either International Fellowship of Evangelical Students

International Fellowship of Evangelical Students

The International Fellowship of Evangelical Students is an association of about 136 evangelical Christian student movements worldwide, encouraging evangelism, discipleship and mission among students. The goal of the organisation is to establish local autonomous student movements in every country...

(through a national body) or Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ is an interdenominational Christian organization that promotes evangelism and discipleship in more than 190 countries...

. Many Christian Unions are one of the societies affiliated to their universities' students' union

Students' union

A students' union, student government, student senate, students' association, guild of students or government of student body is a student organization present in many colleges and universities, and has started appearing in some high schools...

. As a broader generic term, Christian union may refer to any Christian society – such as SCM

Student Christian Movement of the United Kingdom

The Student Christian Movement of Great Britain is a part of the World Student Christian Federation.-Vision Statement:SCM is a movement seeking to bring together students of all denominations to explore the Christian faith in an open-minded and non-judgemental environment.SCM seeks to promote a...

and Fusion

Fusion (student movement)

Fusion is a Christian charity that serves, supports and resources students. It works across all denominations to develop joined up thinking and action for student mission. Fusion is primarily outworked through small groups or ‘cells’ that have been inspired by John Wesley and his implementation of...

groups.

Since their split from the Student Christian Movement

Student Christian Movement of the United Kingdom

in the early twentieth century, most Christian Unions in the United Kingdom are affiliated to the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF). Some UK Christian Unions have had difficult relationships with the students' union due to their policy of allowing leaders to choose their successors in order, they argue, to ensure a Christian leadership (students' unions often require democratic processes be followed), opinions on issues such as homosexuality

Homosexuality

Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...

and the requirement that leaders agree to certain doctrinal statements that exclude most Christians. The doctrinal statement that the Bible is the sole authority means that Catholic, Orthodox and other Christian students would not be able to join the Christian Union. This has led to criticism as it means that over 75% of the world's Christians would not be able to join the Christian Union. This has, therefore, led to calls for the Christian Union to change its name to the Protestant Union or the Evangelical Union. Christians may also feel excluded on denominational reasons due to these doctrinal statements.

External links

Christian Unions and Student Unions

Student union suspends Christian group Article about Birmingham University Evangelical Christian Union in the Guardian newspaper
Hull CU vindicated Article from an evangelical publication
Christian Union returns from ban Warwick University
Trials of 2004 An account of Christian Union at the University College London - disaffiliation from the Student Union and later re-affiliation
Christians threaten legal action BBC News article about Exeter University CU, and the on-going dispute there.
United We Stand Christian ThinkTank's proposals for solutions to the disagreements between Christian Unions and student unions
UCCF Position Paper - Equal Opportunities Policies and Faith-based Student Societies

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

See also

External links