I recently read Christian Smith's wonderful book: Christian America? What Evangelicals Really Want. In it, he tells of going to an Ivy League conference and having two telling conversations back-to-back.
The first was with a leader of an Evangelical para-church ministry, who told Smith how his group has been excluded from his campus' ministry association. He felt that the ministers of the other religious groups just didn't like his conservative brand of Evangelical Christianity.
The second conversation was with an Ivy League professor. I'll quote this text directly, so that you don't think that I am embellishing it at all. "Evangelicals, she argued, have tremendous power in society at large ("Just look at Newt Gingrich!" she exclaimed), are promoting creationism in the curricula of most public schools, and are seeking to marginalize if not eradicate those with whom they disagree. ("First it will be the homosexuals, next it will be the Jews"). Furthermore, she claimed, evangelicals leverage their broad social influence on campuses in order to pressure confused college students into converting to their religion. To create a level playing field, she declared, evangelicals must be restricted, disempowered." P. 4
Well, at least someone with such a bigoted, small-minded view isn't allow to teach at a major university. Oops...
The first was with a leader of an Evangelical para-church ministry, who told Smith how his group has been excluded from his campus' ministry association. He felt that the ministers of the other religious groups just didn't like his conservative brand of Evangelical Christianity.
The second conversation was with an Ivy League professor. I'll quote this text directly, so that you don't think that I am embellishing it at all. "Evangelicals, she argued, have tremendous power in society at large ("Just look at Newt Gingrich!" she exclaimed), are promoting creationism in the curricula of most public schools, and are seeking to marginalize if not eradicate those with whom they disagree. ("First it will be the homosexuals, next it will be the Jews"). Furthermore, she claimed, evangelicals leverage their broad social influence on campuses in order to pressure confused college students into converting to their religion. To create a level playing field, she declared, evangelicals must be restricted, disempowered." P. 4
Well, at least someone with such a bigoted, small-minded view isn't allow to teach at a major university. Oops...
12 comments:
Sigh... I had some similar experiences when I tried to steer my initial dissertation topic, "Evangelical Iconography: A Sociological Analysis of Christian Celebrity" through my committee at Syracuse. Some very smart people (much smarter than me) couldn't even wrap their heads around the possibility that Evangelical Christianity is more than the Cultural Warrior faction.
So I take it you recommend Smith's latest book?
i actually tend to agree with the ivy league professor up until she says they must be restricted or censored. Those who front charges to include creationsim/ID in curriculum, support legislative measures against gays and sophistic measures to capitalize on young college students during a vulnerable time are most likely conservative evangelical Christians.
I've always been fascinated by those contradictory views about Christianity. To outsiders, evangelicals seem frighteningly powerful, while from the inside evangelicals often feel increasingly marginalized and culturally powerless. Part of the problem is that both views are not at all nuanced by geography, social class, subculture... both sides seem to believe in some kind of monolithic Western culture which is perceived as either militantly evangelical or aggressively anti-Christian.
I would hazard a guess that the campus of an Ivy League university is one of the places in North American where evangelicals are least culturally dominant.
I am an evangelical campus minister at Stanford University, and this post rings true to me. The evangelicals feel oppressed at the same time that many secular students feel afraid of us.
I think everyone would worry less about us organizing a revolution if they knew how hard it us for us to organize a potluck. ;)
Nick, do you really believe that Evangelicals seek to "marginalize if not eradicate those with whom they disagree"? Especially in a university context?
I'm sorry to hear that story, Corey. Seems like an interesting topic nonetheless.
Bea, you're right that Evangelicals don't hold much sway at Ivy League universities, which makes it all the more surprising that anyone would fear them so much.
LOL... Very good point, Glenn.
no not marginalize or eradicate those are bad words for how i would express the idea. rather some of them (not all of them which is key here) do seek means in which to shape cultural values which are often contrarian to opposing views but only i think in reaction to feeling marginalized. this may put some of them in line against changing cultural fronts in terms of gay rights and seculurization
the wording only underscores how one must go about discussing differences between groups of people. I am accustomed to discussing such matters, i have attended Uconn's Freethinkers meeting since its inception and there are a couple of evangelical people who come for counter point. Dont take my agreement as a sign of compliance in which the way she expressed this viewpoin. her quote was neither scholarly nor polite but the ultimate point from which i extrapolated on can be expressed validated without appearing hostile
on futhernote, i loved reading thru this blog and i enjoyed the tone in which u set throughout it. I come from a very different spectrum on the religious wheel but i can appreciate someone who is open minded to discussion and also speaks his mind clearly on the subjects you enjoy.
When you rephrase it, in your own words, Nick, it sounds reasonable.
Glad that you enjoy the blog.
Brad
Post a Comment