Bob Jones University is Right
Monday November 24, 2008
Categories: Christians, Defining Progressive, Evangelicals, Hate Crimes, Mainline Protestants, Religion in the Public Square
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Filed Under: apology, Bob Jones, dating, Eleison Group, hate, partisanship, polarizing, racism, segregation
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About Progressive Revival
Diana Butler Bass and Paul Raushenbush both stand firmly within the Mainline Protestant tradition and, along with guest bloggers of all religious backgrounds are dedicated to the revival of religious progressivism and its influence in American politics.
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Diana Butler BassDiana Butler Bass is a commentator and scholar in American religion. She is the author of seven books including A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story (HarperOne, 2009).
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Paul RaushenbushModerator of the Progressive Revival blog and the Associate Dean of Religious Life at Princeton University.
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When will they apologize to gay people - any bets? I say the year 2035
BJU's very public statement of apology is very welcome.
I too am looking forward to BJU also correcting its approach to LGBT persons and their rights.
Very similar so-called Bible-based arguments have been invoked in support of racist attitudes & policies, sexist attitudes & policies, and homophobic attitudes and policies. All are much more cultural in their basis than they are based in the gospel of Jesus.
I think that BJU's apology is sincere, and look forward to them moving forward on the issue of clearing any and all tinges of this past practice from their policy and behavior.
It's also illustrative of how dogmatic doctrinal positions that are based on faulty interpretation of Scripture can and do, in time, yield to a more honest interpretation. It is a pattern that has been repeated thousands upon thousands of times in human history. And it is a pattern that we are beginning to see take place with regards to the "clobber passages" used to relegate GLBT persons to second class status. In time, this too will be cast off, and ALL of God's children will be seen as equal before him.
Condsidering that the first Black president of the USA has just been elected, the timing of this "humble" statement is interesting. As mentioned above, when they decide to accept GLBL completely then perhaps they will issue a statement about that too.
The above post at 7:33 PM 24 Nov. is mine. pagansister New time limit thing!
Hello, I just want you to know that I have always enjoyed reading daily prayers, I added this to my prayers in the morning. I do the reading, the psalm, the bible reading and of course the thought of the day. However, I noticed you changed your site allot. I like it. I have always printed out prayers that are helpfull to me and the surrondings. Now I can't re print them, you changed your site so much you deleted allot of the prayers. Please bring them back. I searched and searched for quite awhile. Nothing, there is a bathroom prayer id number is 3295 this cannot be located. Today I was reading daily prayers, and wanted to print out the prayer, the print is so small you can barely read it. What a waste of my time and ink. Please fix this. I am truly disappointed. Thank you for your time.
Lynn Bergum
Wisconsin 11/25/08
Forgive me if I'm not standing for this ovation.
For a generation, they've been spewing racist bile all over the place and sullying the name of Christianity, and now they finally get around to acknowledging that African-Americans are people. I can't get excited about this - I can only just ask "what the %^&* took you so long?"
Also - given that they're guilty of perpetuating codified racism and institutionally racist practices long after most other institutions had given that up - I'm going to go ahead and say that an apology isn't enough. What are they doing? Where's their policy to ensure that African-Americans are represented at all levels of the power structure of their institution? Where's the commitment to work against the racism they spread in their own student/alumni community, in their local community, in the churches they serve? Where's the institution-wide self-examination and self-reflection that might lead them to question their other prejudices - their strong institutional sexism, their religious bigotry, their anti-LGBT policies?
I suppose it's nice that they finally came around to doing what everyone else did 30 (or more) years ago, but they're going to need to demonstrate that they mean those words by taking strong, decisive, immediate action to put them into practice.
Too little. Too late.
Bob Jones U. should go the route of Lehman Brothers.
Fine, you've sinned, you've repented, now get on with your life. It wouldn't hurt if you looked at the other people you discriminate against (women, gays, lesbians, transgendered folk) you might not have to do this again and again.
It was a pretty narrow "culture" they were representing by practicing segregation up until 1971, or banning interracial dating until 2005! Still, better late than never and welcome. Nevertheless - it is perhaps overly cynical to reflect that White Christian conservatives began seeing the light on race just when they were seeking recruits for the culture wars. Prop. 8 would probably not have have passed in CA without the support of culturally conservative Blacks. I'm sure there are many sincere folks at BJU and amongst White Christians who truly regret past sins but I suspect there are others, especially in the hirearchy who see this as an act of political convenience. If they wanted gay votes badly enough, homosexuality would suddenly become OK by them as well.
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