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 PrintableVersion Letter from AmericaFirst of all, 'de-recognise' all the ChristiansOn the one hand, it’s a small story. It only relates to 50 students or so. Other than a cameo appearance in Love Actually, Wisconsin is not a name brand state. On the other hand, this is the third in a row. First it was Rutgers University in New Jersey. Then it was Georgetown University. Now the University of Wisconsin has ‘De-recognised’ the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship group. On October 2, IVCF filed suit. Who can blame them? On the face of it the decision by these universities is absurd. IVCF (similar to UCCF, the Christian Union organisation in the UK) insists that its leaders sign its Statement of Belief. The universities have claimed that such a policy is discriminatory. What will be next, IVCF President Alec Hill wants to know, will Republican groups on campus be forced to allow Democrats as members? Will Jewish groups have to accept holocaust deniers? The suit of law asserts that not only does the position of the University of Wisconsin defy commonsense, it is also contrary to law. Institutional persecutionIt may come as some surprise to readers in the UK that such institutional persecution is possible in the United States, but there it is. I remember having a conversation with a pluralist religious group of chaplains at a university where strong words were exchanged about the apparently unacceptable behaviour of young Christians verbally sharing their faith with non-Christians. No doubt, in the minds of most of those present, to be evangelistic was implicitly to be intolerant, and to be intolerant is, well, you know, not as bad as being Satan but definitely exudes a sulfurous odour. Intolerance of toleranceWhat are we to do with the ‘intolerance of tolerance’ as the problem has been called? My assertion is that we need to trumpet good old-fashioned liberal values. Those of you who know me will be gulping at this point. Has Josh finally lost his marbles? Did he say ‘liberal’? No, I’m still a 25 point Calvinist (and if there was a 26 I’d probably sign up for that too), inerrantist, general Bible-basher, but it seems to me that truly biblical Christians have something at this stage in the Western world’s decadence to offer along the lines of ‘freedom’. ‘It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery’ (Galatians 5.1). When I’m asked at an elite university — institutions that on the whole are only slightly left of the people’s republic of China — how I can advocate presence without penance, it is because I believe, like a good Baptist, in the freedom of all to express their views, even if (and especially because) they are views with which I strongly disagree. In a sense, I really want universities to be more liberal: I want them to read not only all the ‘liberals’ (in the sense of the left-leaning political hegemony) but also all the evangelicals, and much else besides. In freedom the truth will emerge. I want the lights turned on, then we can all see which emperor has no clothes. I don’t want our seminaries like that (!), but in the public square let’s just face the fact that we do live in a diverse world and figure out what we believe given all the data, not just the select range that Nanny University thinks is good for us. Go for it Inter-Varsity, I say! But when you’ve won (as you did at Rutgers), don’t forget to smile tolerantly, should we say lovingly, at the Moslem group too. What could be better — a ready-made mission field. Josh Moody,
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