By Will Hall, Message Editor PINEVILLE (LBM) – Louisiana College President Rick Brewer has notified the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities that the Louisiana Baptist school has withdrawn its membership from the organization. The issue involves a policy passed by the CCCU board of directors which endorses so-called “Fairness for All” legislation which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of federally-protected classes while also articulating protections for churches and religious organizations. The CCCU describes itself as “a higher education association of more than 180 Christian institutions around the world” and states its mission is “to help our institutions transform lives by faithfully relating scholarship and service to biblical truth. According to CBN News, Shirley Mullen, vice chair of the CCCU board and president of Houghton College, explained the CCCU position on LGBT protections as one of practicality for Christian higher education. “[W]e are increasingly persuaded that the most viable political strategy is for comprehensive religious freedom protections to be combined with explicit support for basic human rights for members of the LGBT community,” she wrote in a … [Read more...]