"We'd take that position sadly; we wouldn't want for it to come up in that way at all," Ingalls said. "It's such a difficult issue. Essentially what it comes down to is that God's wisdom is greater than man, and he knows much, much better than we do."

Stonehouse noted that the Tufts student was refused not because of her sexual orientation itself but because of her religious tolerance of homosexuality.

"Born-again Christians believe that homosexuality is a sin, but so is lying and stealing and fornicating," Stonehouse said. "What's at stake here is not that anyone was sinning but that they were condoning that type of a lifestyle."

"It's not appropriate for someone who thinks that homosexuality is completely wrong to be in the leadership of the BGLTSA [the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters' Alliance]," Ingalls added.

But not all Jesus Week sponsors take the same position.

Vogel said the CSA would "definitely" welcome gay and lesbian students into leadership positions. In fact, he said that the CSA has a branch specifically geared toward Catholic homosexuals.

Vogel said the disparity between the CSA's position and other groups' is due to the personalities of their leaders rather than the doctrines of their churches.

But Stonehouse said the difference is indeed a Scriptural one.

"I'm not sure that they regard all of God's word as being sovereign, whereas born-again Christians do," she said. "That may not be true for every individual Catholic, but in the church that is the trend."

Littauer said that Chrstians who tolerate homosexual behavior had little Scriptural support.

"In light of several passages...I feel that they will have an extremely difficult if not impossible time reconciling this view with what the Bible actually says," Littauer wrote in an e-mail message.

Whatever the reason for the dispute, leaders say that Christianity itself does not advocate discrimination against gays and lesbians or personal animosity towards them.

"I do not in any way hate homosexuals," Stonehouse said. "And I think to do so is sinful."

"Divorce is also strongly spoken against," Ingalls said. "[But] in a lot of conservative Christian churches, homosexuality is on a completely different level. And that's really sad."

Future Challenges

Although they disagree about outreach to gays and lesbians, leaders of campus Christian groups say they would like to focus more attention on other kinds of diversity, noting that they have traditionally had trouble getting minority students to join.