{"id":9691,"date":"2010-10-23T17:44:51","date_gmt":"2010-10-23T22:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/?p=9691"},"modified":"2010-10-23T17:57:55","modified_gmt":"2010-10-23T22:57:55","slug":"the-christian-roommate-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/10\/23\/the-christian-roommate-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"The Christian Roommate Issue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In Grand Rapids, of all places, a female nursing student advertized space in her apartment, and was looking for a \u201cChristian\u201d roommate. Here\u2019s the story.<\/p>\n

Thoughts?<\/strong><\/p>\n

GRAND RAPIDS<\/strong><\/a> \u2014 The 31-year-old nursing student was looking to keep her expenses down when she decided to invite someone to share her home.<\/p>\n

But when she posted an advertisement for a Christian roommate on her local church\u2019s bulletin board, the Grand Rapids woman landed in the middle of a civil rights debate that has her facing a complaint of alleged illegal housing discrimination.<\/p>\n

The advertisement contained the sentence, \u201cI am looking for a Christian roommate,\u201d said Joel Oster, senior litigation counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, which represents the woman.<\/p>\n

Someone saw the ad over the summer and anonymously filed a civil rights complaint with the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan. The complaint was then filed with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, and the woman was notified at the end of September.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a clear violation on its face,\u201d said Nancy L. Haynes, executive director of the local Fair Housing Center. \u201cIt\u2019s an advertisement that clearly violates the Fair Housing Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the woman might choose a roommate based on religion, say, after interviewing the person over coffee, she cannot publish an ad with that intent, Haynes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe can choose to rent to a Christian, that\u2019s her prerogative,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a separate violation to make a discriminatory statement, to publish a discriminatory statement.\u201d\u2026The Alliance Defense Fund is a Christian legal group. In a statement released Thursday, Oster added, \u201cChristians shouldn\u2019t live in fear of being punished by the government for being Christians. It is completely absurd to try to penalize a single Christian woman for privately seeking a Christian roommate at church \u2014 an obviously legal and constitutionally protected activity\u2026.<\/p>\n

A section in the Fair Housing Act does prevent people from publishing an advertisement stating their preference of religion, race or handicap with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling, said Harold Core, director of public affairs for the Michigan Department of Civil Rights.<\/p>\n

There are exemptions for gender when there is a shared living space, Haynes said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Grand Rapids, of all places, a female nursing student advertized space in her apartment, and was looking for a \u201cChristian\u201d roommate. Here\u2019s the story. Thoughts? GRAND RAPIDS \u2014 The 31-year-old nursing student was looking to keep her expenses down when she decided to invite someone to share her home. But when she posted an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1732],"tags":[2544],"class_list":["post-9691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public-issues","tag-grand-rapids-christian-roommate"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Christian Roommate Issue<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In Grand Rapids, of all places, a female nursing student advertized space in her apartment, and was looking for a "Christian" roommate. Here's the story.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/10\/23\/the-christian-roommate-issue\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Christian Roommate Issue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In Grand Rapids, of all places, a female nursing student advertized space in her apartment, and was looking for a "Christian" roommate. Here's the story.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/10\/23\/the-christian-roommate-issue\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-10-23T22:44:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-10-23T22:57:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/10\/23\/the-christian-roommate-issue\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/10\/23\/the-christian-roommate-issue\/\",\"name\":\"The Christian Roommate Issue\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-10-23T22:44:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-10-23T22:57:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"In Grand Rapids, of all places, a female nursing student advertized space in her apartment, and was looking for a \\\"Christian\\\" roommate. Here's the story.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/10\/23\/the-christian-roommate-issue\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/10\/23\/the-christian-roommate-issue\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/10\/23\/the-christian-roommate-issue\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Christian Roommate Issue\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Christian Roommate Issue","description":"In Grand Rapids, of all places, a female nursing student advertized space in her apartment, and was looking for a \"Christian\" roommate. Here's the story.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/10\/23\/the-christian-roommate-issue\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Christian Roommate Issue","og_description":"In Grand Rapids, of all places, a female nursing student advertized space in her apartment, and was looking for a \"Christian\" roommate. Here's the story.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/10\/23\/the-christian-roommate-issue\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2010-10-23T22:44:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-10-23T22:57:55+00:00","author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/10\/23\/the-christian-roommate-issue\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/10\/23\/the-christian-roommate-issue\/","name":"The Christian Roommate Issue","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-10-23T22:44:51+00:00","dateModified":"2010-10-23T22:57:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"In Grand Rapids, of all places, a female nursing student advertized space in her apartment, and was looking for a \"Christian\" roommate. Here's the story.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/10\/23\/the-christian-roommate-issue\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/10\/23\/the-christian-roommate-issue\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/10\/23\/the-christian-roommate-issue\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Christian Roommate Issue"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9691\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}