When the most liberal Christian college won’t allow its students and professors to be gay, what’s the church–and the alumni base–to do?
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I know, I know.
I went to a Christian college—I wasn’t forced to, like many who are forced to grow up Catholic or Evangelical but, after high school, I chose to attend a little Christian liberal arts school in New England.
And it was great.
It was (and still is) the most liberal of Christian liberal arts colleges out there (my Wheaton friends may disagree), and even though I stopped being a Christian in my freshman year, later becoming an openly secular nontheist and decidedly anti-religious, I will defend the amazing professors and personnel of my alma mater, Gordon College, even though this week Gordon continued in its legacy of upholding their anti-LBGTQ code of conduct, which is strictly anti-homosexual behavior.
Based on that strict position, the college has been sued by a professor who claims that administration demoted and threatened to fire her for speaking out about the original LGBTQ controversy.
This past week 200 current Gordon College students signed a letter stating that the professor’s approach “exemplifies the spirit of a true liberal arts education that respects and allows for individual agency and a multiplicity of views.”
The letter went on to challenge the idea that Gordon has hosted “healthy and open discussion of sexuality over the last few years” and bemoaned the fact that administrators invited only one gay student to serve on a group formed to discuss LGBTQ issues in 2014-2015 (that student resigned from the committee due to the group’s “unequal representation”) as well as censored stories about sexuality in a student-run publication and that it no longer offers courses on sexuality.
It’s 2016, right?
And this isn’t the Mormon church or some Bible College in the South. This is the most liberal Christian college in the most liberal part of these liberal United States.
No Gay-Straight Alliance, at all
When I was at Gordon in the late 90s, I was part of a group of students who wanted to establish the first pro-LGBTQ group, and the student council wouldn’t even let us form the group. That’s right—the students, not the administration—voted us down to form as an officially college-supported club, which was simply dedicated to talking about LGBTQ issues.
And, after all these years, as an aged unbeliever, father, teacher, and coach, as liberal as I can be, I support Gordon’s right to do whatever they want, even if it means they will go bankrupt and put all those amazing professors out of a career.
The free market rules for ideas and businesses has to prevail, and, if we’ve learned anything about people, it’s that they get what they want and they always want to keep getting it—so if an institution is holding to an archaic mode of conduct that many students barely acknowledge (and many do respect, stringently), then they’re free to adapt. Or not.
Since the college found itself in the news last year for upholding the discriminatory Code of Conduct, the group OneGordon, like its sister college’s group OneWheaton, has been working tirelessly to take up the mantle of pro-Christian, pro-LGBTQ support among alumni and current students.
It’s really the language of the Behavioral Standards that Gordon alumni have been trying to alter so that it doesn’t target homosexual behavior:
A. Practices Governed by Scripture—The following behavioral expectations are binding on all members of the Gordon community.
Those words and actions which are expressly forbidden in Scripture, including but not limited to blasphemy, profanity, dishonesty, theft, drunkenness, sexual relations outside marriage, and homosexual practice, will not be tolerated in the lives of Gordon community members, either on or off campus.
At least it’s not like the Bob Jones University handbook (Gordon is nowhere near the BJU standard, as many will agree). But it could be like the Catholic Intellectual Tradition/Jesuit Boston College Handbook, which has a 16-page student handbook on sexual misconduct, but never forbids extra-marital or homosexual sexual acts.
The right to be you and me—and the right to discriminate
Yes, Gordon College is a private, non-denominational Evangelical institution, so they can do whatever they want—and they should be able to within the confines of the law. The wonderful thing about an openly secular society, however, is that the Federal and most State governments take a progressive tolerance and anti-discrimination stance regarding almost all citizens (not including certain criminals).
Supporters of anti-LGBTQ institutions should know that Gordon is where I learned about Queer Theory in my 400-level Lit-Crit classes; it’s where I met, acted with, and lived on campus with more than several LGBTQ students, some who were closeted or silent about their sexuality, and some who couldn’t stand the closet. Gordon College is where I first understood the deep, personal faith of gay Christians, whether they were students, professors, or guest lecturers; it was in the weekly required chapel visits where I first heard the interpretation that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of inhospitality and not homosexuality (and saw several students walk out in protest); Gordon is where I learned how to think for myself without the guilt trip of the church and church leaders, and how to treat other humans whose lifestyles I might disagree with, whatever they may be, because life isn’t about your sexuality—it’s about your work, and how you treat others.
Gordon is also where I learned about every aspect of any higher learning subject I craved—because my professors were excellent in their fields, and I was there to learn.
But Gordon isn’t just some local private Christian high school we can dismiss—it’s a serious, competitive institution with thousands of students and athletes in its legacy, which is why their stance on holding to their Behavioral Standards is so strange, and at the same time, not strange at all.
Other Gordon Alumni have defended its stance by affirming that identifying with a “traditional” and “Biblical” position on sexuality is the clear choice, and that it will be a better college for it, that holding fast to the tried-and-true codes of Christian conduct is the best path to let the world know how they feel about the Bible and living standards of sexual conduct.
But I wish they wouldn’t.
Your Jesus, my Jesus, and nobody’s Jesus
When I was a Christian, one of the most pronounced contentions I had with the faith and my personal version of God was believing that the people I talked to in everyday real life were going to a very real Hell—people I had close connections with, whose families I knew, and whose lifestyles included sin that I was supposed to believe was so powerful that it would separate them from the God who claimed that nothing could separate them from God.
That separation would include my gay family members, friends, teachers, musicians, athletes, heroes, and entertainers.
And, over time, I just couldn’t do it. I mentally couldn’t hold the paradoxes anymore, and, like many alumni of Christian and Bible colleges, I defected. Hard. I had entered college as a Bible-believing Christian, ready to be a pastor and tend to a flock of believers—and I graduated from the former Bible college four years later as an openly secular unbeliever and atheist, ready to take on the world with an amazing education that, aside from some of the core classes, was well worth the money, time, effort, and grief.
If I were still a Christian—if I had kept the faith and continued the direction I was in years ago, I might be of the faith that accepts everyone into the church, and choose the “I will never leave you nor forsake you” and “nothing can separate us” Jesus over the angry “spew you out of my mouth” and “bring a sword” Prince of Peace. But that’s a whole other essay.
If my children, who are not being raised as Christians, want to attend a Christian college at some point, they are free to do so, knowing that while their mother and I do not forbid religion, we would forbid them to join or support any institution that openly discriminates against gays, lesbians, transgender, and queer students, even if the institution is the most liberal one out there.
I just wish that I could be completely proud of my alma mater the way many graduates are, and not have to be ashamed that they discriminate.
That day may never arrive, but in the meantime, there are unlimited opportunities for higher education held at facilities that offer and foster the same sort of growth for all students, regardless of the usual determiners of discrimination.
And to those Gordon students who anonymously protested in writing? I can think of another protest including theses that turned the previous church leadership on its head, and gave way to a worldwide movement that rejected many of the previous’ institutions claims to the strict will and word of God.
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Photo: Unsplash
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And thank you for sharing this.
As much as I hate discrimination, I also am uncomfortable with private institutions being told what to do. I agree that they should not receive federal funding and that those who disagree with their stance should choose to attend other places. This to me is how change is truly enacted, by the will of the masses.
If Gordon College wants to discriminate, they should not receive federal funds. A number of Catholic and evangelical school have applied (and been given) exemptions to Title-IX in order to be free to discriminate against LBGT students. They should not be granted exemptions – no federal funding for research or for financial aid should be given. Instead, if they are truly independent and want to discriminate, let them do it on their own dime. Hillsdale College in Michigan has done just that for decades.
We may be ashamed of many things. Our upbringing, our schools or our family members may have given us a lot to feel remorseful about. That’s the thing about an imperfect world, it will never cease to provide us with such opportunities. We have no control over the past. And nothing said or done or stood for in the name of God ever changes the Word of God. Our experiences do shape our attitude towards God, more powerfully so by the negative ones. So it is no surprise that Jeremy feels strongly about this aspect of his life and I… Read more »