The University of Maine Shows Cowardice in the Face of Anti-Christian Bigotry

The University of Maine can couch their decision to rescind the sale of the Hutchinson Center to Calvary Chapel Belfast in whatever legalese helps them sleep at night (or avoid a lawsuit), but there’s no mistaking this for what it is: brazen anti-Christian discrimination.

More than that, it’s pure cowardice on the part of the University of Maine System (UMS) administrators who went along with this sham.

[RELATED: UMaine Rescinds Offer to Sell Hutchinson Center to Belfast Church…]

For those who haven’t been following the drama, UMS decided to sell the Hutchinson Center, they accepted multiple bids, and Calvary Chapel Belfast was determined to have submitted the winning bid.

Here’s what UMS announced on Aug. 15: “Following a thorough review of the three offers submitted in response to a competitive request for proposals publicly issued earlier this year, UMaine will sell to Calvary Chapel Belfast because they had the top-scoring response.”

Cue the anti-Christian clamor.

The anti-Christian campaign to reverse the sale was led by the so-called “Scholars Strategy Network,” a left-wing cabal of academics who shop out their credentials to leftist causes.

The group promoted a Bangor Daily News op-ed from one of their members, Lauren W. Stark, who at least didn’t hide her anti-religious motivations for protesting the sale.

Stark acknowledged that Calvary Chapel Belfast members have a “right to express and practice their religious beliefs” — how very kind and enlightened of her! But she just couldn’t tolerate the idea people with different beliefs from hers taking over the building.

Of course, Stark trotted out the usual tired drivel leftists use to cloak their anti-Christian bigotry. The church, she claimed, was transphobic, anti-LGBTQ, and “gender essentialist” — whatever the hell that means.

She then describes how she quickly reviewed some of lead pastor Greg Huston’s sermons on YouTube and was shocked — shocked! — to find a Christian pastor espousing Christian ideas.

In an even more disgusting tactic, Stark implied that Huston’s church would in some way tolerate or cover-up sexual abuse of minors. Stark, of course, has always had the best interests of children in mind, like when she advocated for the closure of schools during the COVID-19 scare. We all know how that went for kids.

As the top commenter on the Stark’s BDN op-ed aptly put it: “This isn’t really about public access because if the top bidder wanted to bulldoze the place for a parking lot the sale wouldn’t be contested like this. This whole thing is really about hating Calvary Chapel and not wanting those with opposing viewpoints to even be allowed to exist in the community at all.”

Bingo.

To put a finer point on it, had a Muslim Community Center won the bid to purchase the Center, Stark and the rest of the “concerned citizens” and social justice warriors would have probably applauded — and UMS would never have dared renege on the sale in such a manner.

The UMS administrators can dress up this decision with whatever poppycock they choose, but every honest Mainer knows exactly what happened here. They caved to anti-Christian pressure.

The decision is final and unappealable, according to UMS’ Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Ryan Low, who, by the way, had his wedding officiated by none other than Gov. Janet Mills.

Calvary Chapel Belfast, at least, has handled the outrageous and discriminatory decision with equanimity, merely requesting that their members pray for their leadership as they navigate their next steps.

Here’s hoping those steps include litigation.