A thoughtful friend drew my attention to this story about North Central University and the Equality Riders. To summarize: gay activists are barred from holding events at an Assemblies of God university.
I find stories like this very interesting, because I find myself in the same situation as the Equality Riders. I am on a private university not exactly enthusiastic about my views and have to labor under certain restrictions as a result. Having said that, Stanford is much more gracious to me than North Central has been to the Equality Riders (even if the riders’ version of events proves to be exaggerated). I am allowed to be on campus, to hold meetings with other interested students on campus, and
to utilize campus resources.
At first blush, it seems that the Assemblies of God (who sponsors both my ministry and that of North Central University) wants to have it both ways: they want to be allowed to express their views via people like me at private universities while simultaneously denying other groups that right at their own schools (such as NCU).
I’m not sure that’s a completely fair assessment, since there’s a category difference between denominational schools and someplace like Stanford or Yale. These latter schools, although private, like to think of themselves as self-consciously neutral on religious and moral matters, whereas denominational schools have religious and moral
positions to which all students are required to conform. The upshot is that NCU can represent the student body in a way that Stanford cannot.
Still, it does seem a little hypocritical (the golden rule seems relevant in this context) and unwise. As a professional who works with college students, I assure you that NCU did everything they could to intrigue students with the Equality Riders’ message. If they truly wanted to sideline the riders, the administration should have invited them onto campus, given them a public forum, and then offered a calm and
thorough rebuttal. As it is, they’ve likely fanned a spark into flame.
And firing reporters for reporting is always a shortsighted move (although legal). Firing reporters always leaves people feeling suspicious–what is being hidden? Again, the way to derail any story is by being calm and reasonable in your response (supposing that you have a better case, that is). If the reporters write stories that the administrators find troubling, letters to the editor (or even an editorial column, depending on the paper’s governance) are supremely appropriate.
Still, I would be very interested to hear NCU’s official perspective on the events described by the Equality Riders. It doesn’t take much reading between the lines to notice that the Equality Riders were hyping the level of force used by the university, so perhaps other details are also misleading.
[UPDATE: this is precisely the university’s assertion. They claim that the Equality Riders have misrepresented the events. Read the university’s response at http://www.northcentral.edu/news/soulforce.php
and also hear a message from the university president about the events.]
While I respect that NCU would not allow herecies to be taught on the grounds of their campus I find it a little ironic. People attend AG universities to learn to reach the lost. You could say that the lost wanted to come to them but were refused.
I wonder what would have hapened if the leadership of NCU challenged the students to pray and fast for the Equality riders before they came to town. Could Pentecostals in this day and age expect God to show up in the midst? I guess they decided that it was better not to find out.
Excellent point. I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t even think about the opportunity for evangelism.
I blogged about this group a month ago hoping that they would wind up on a campus like NCU. http://revivalblog.com/2006/03/28/un-christian-activists/
Maybe next time.
The thing that astounds me in this case is that believers are unaware of the Bible’s views on homosexuality. Sure, in Genesis we can see that God’s wrath poured out on homosexuals. However, the New Testament shines a different light on things: the opportunity for evangelism (which clearly has been brought up). When Paul writes in I Corinthians 6:9–11
There are other sorts of sinners in that list that then had a relationship with Christ. If people want to come onto a Christian Campus and say negative things to cause a revolt on the campus, that’s one issue, but if a peaceful scenario can be had, I think that the gracious believer can preach the gospel to a lost soul, and God, being God can draw them to Him.
This has been sitting in the back of my mind to blog about since I heard that they were refused entrance.
I don’t know the whole story either, but I wish the administration had handled it differently. I was talking with a friend last week who had attended Evangel University. He was not at all surprised at the lack of welcome–I, a little naive on the Christian campus aspect, was shocked.
Why couldn’t they have picked out a handful of informed, able, and (especially) loving students and faculty to escort these guys around the campus? Why not buy them lunch? Why not, as you suggested, set up a forum?
What are we so afraid of? Here we are, “raising up” evangelists and pastors and all that, but we can’t trust them to interact with the world they’re going to help lead in? I am sure there is more to the story, or atleast I keep telling myself that to give NCU the benefit of the doubt.
It’s funny how the tide has turned, isn’t it? The world is trying to save the Christians.
Hi. I just found this site. Interesting article and viewpoint! I graduated from an Assemblies of God college, and I currently attend one of the colleges visited by the Equality Riders. In fact, I got to meet a few of them.
The Assemblies of God, the peculiar people that they are, would rather be a locked down institution, than to open themselves to the possibilities of connecting with others different from them. As an Assemblies of God preacher’s kid and a gay person, I find this to be a shame. More harm comes from rejecting the “enemy” than comes from opening the doors to communication.
A friend emailed me to say that the university claims that the Equality Riders have misrepresented the events. Read the university’s response at http://www.northcentral.edu/news/soulforce.php and also hear a message from the university president explaining the university’s position.