Dordt parent calls COVID covenant a ‘totalitarian document’

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Earlier today we told you about the COVID-19 covenant Dordt University, a Christian college in Sioux Center, is requiring students to sign. An email also asked students to quit attending in-person worship services and instead attend virtually.

A concerned parent of a Dordt student sounded off on the covenant, asking by what authority Dordt seeks to “bind students’ consciences, forbidding them to attend in-person worship in their churches and thereby potentially conflicting their own elders’ decisions who call them to worship in-person.”

“(Their) argument seems to go like this: “‘Don’t attend your churches in order to prevent infecting anyone at the university.’ With this statement, the university seems to have de-factor put itself above the church of Jesus Christ, which is ruled by local elders and not by the academy.

“Does Dordt University consider itself to be above and more important than the church of Jesus Christ that we can seemingly live without in-person worship but not without in-person classes?”

The covenant came out after students have been enrolled and are making final preparations to arrive on campus.

“This is not only illegal as it curtails the students’ freedom of religion, but it is also blatantly unbiblical,” the parent said. “You have no right whatsoever to prevent students from attending in-person worship in their churches if their elders have decided to call their congregations to it.”

The parent said Dordt knows it is too late for students to find an alternative. And, at this point, students “will lose at least one semester and lots of money if they are not allowed to attend classes without signing this totalitarian document, which seems to also contain a blanket submission statement by students to obey all university decisions connected with COVID-19.”

 

Author: Jacob Hall

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