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Monday, April 28, 2008Silence was golden: The Day of Silence and Golden Rule Pledge on Appalachian State University
Reports are coming in from the Golden Rule Pledge. I hope to share their experiences at the new Golden Rule Pledge website soon. I did want to here share one very early report from Jordyne Krumroy, a student at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. Jordyne was an early supporter of the Golden Rule Pledge and as you will see, used it as a springboard to mobilize Christian groups on her campus for outreach. Her report is lengthy but worth the read:
Yesterday was the Day of Silence. A national event where students on their campuses are silent for the entire day to bring awareness to the silencing of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) students. This community has been daily silenced by the name-calling, bullying, and harassment simply because of their sexuality. Many Christians are confused about how to respond to this day because they do not agree with homosexuality, but they do agree that hatred based on it is not acceptable.
This year I decided to get involved. I went to Campus Crusade for Christ as well as Intervarsity Fellowship to present the idea of participating. They both said they wanted to participate but I was absolutely astonished when Campus Crusade said that not only did they want to support it as individuals, but as a ministry. When I heard this, my heart was pounding- it was a prayer come true.
I can’t give you a count of how many students from the ministries actually participated. It might have been one, or many. But to me, it was their sincere desire to do something that really hit me hard. I have long been frustrated with the Christian community’s response to the GLBT group. When Crusade called me, a little piece of anger towards the church was cast away.
Students at our school chose to participate by duct taping their mouths shut in complete silence, and when people asked why, handing them a slip of paper that explained. While I was more than fine with doing this, I wanted to do more. I wanted to make it clear that not only do I love them, but Christ does also. So I made my own slips, not to preach, but to break down the walls between the Christian and LGBT communities. The slips I made said this:
“Today I am pledging to be silent to bring attention to the name-calling, bullying and harassment experienced by LGBT students. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Luke 6:31 As a follower of Christ, I believe that all people are created in the image of God and therefore deserve love and respect.”
Yesterday morning, when I went to the SAGA (Sexuality and Gender Alliance) table to receive my piece of duct tape, I showed them my slips and told them that several ministries would be participating as well. The look on their faces was priceless. They were shocked, but ecstatic. This alone would have been enough to make my day.
But there was still more to be done. Eric Heistand from Campus Crusade for Christ had the idea of bringing a flower to the head faculty advisor of SAGA. We left flowers and a card that read,
“Dear Mary Ballard and SAGA: As followers of Christ, we want to stand beside you in silence to bring attention to the name-calling, bullying and harassment on college campuses around the world directed toward the LGBT community. We believe that all people have been created in the image of God and therefore have infinite worth and dignity. May these flowers and our silence be a symbol of our desire to show true love and concern. May they also be small step in breaking down some of the walls that sometimes divide us. In silence we stand with you, Jordyne Krumroy Eric Heistand on behalf of Campus Crusade for Christ.”
At 5 pm, the students who participated gathered at a theatre to break the silence by letting a scream go and then talking about their experiences. I was 10 minutes late due to a nap, but when I got there people greeted me with hugs, handshakes, and smiling faces. I discovered that Mary Ballard, the teacher who we gave the flowers and card, read the card aloud to the community.
People came up to me shocked. Over and over, people said to me, “Thank you. You don’t know how much this means to me. I’m amazed. Thank you!” The students seemed really surprised that a ministry, especially a Christian ministry would do that. I talked with several students, but one student spoke with me for a while. She told me that she was so surprised and couldn’t believe her eyes that she had to read the card twice even before it was read aloud. I’m so grateful for the relationships that were begun yesterday just by pledging to be silent for less than 24 hours. Later that night I went to eat with several of them and hung out until the wee hours of the morning. It was wonderful.
To those of you reading, I wish I could tell you in person because this day deserves more than a short summary. Yesterday, the LGBT community saw something revolutionary- they saw Christians loving them and more than that, they saw the love of Christ. What would happen if next year, hundreds of Christian students walked around with duct tape in silence?
I have to tell you about how I felt yesterday walking around in silence with duct tape. I felt humiliated at times, and other times proud. You see, everywhere I went, people stared. I felt like a leper, completely stigmatized from people. In fact, I was experiencing what the LGBT community has experienced for decades.
As I was walking to my dorm, I realized why 30% of LGBT students report having missed one or more days of school per year out of fear. Walking by a dorm, someone opened their window and yelled a derogatory statement to me. I was scared. There was such anger in his voice that I was fearful to walk by the dorm again later that day. I was reminded of Lawrence King, a 14 year old who was murdered because of his homosexuality just two months ago.
Yesterday was amazing. The best day of the year by far. The truth is, this group [LGBT] has been disappointed by the church. I know that as people read that, some will become angry with me. ‘Not my church’ they will say. But when “Christians” hold signs on campus that read, “ God hates Fags.” and “fags burn in hell,” the LGBT community associates that with Christianity. Many people have told me that they have never said anything derogatory to the gay community, but the problem is they haven’t said anything at all. You see, half of the church is screaming hate at them, and the other half is silent. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that silence is powerful. The failure to not say anything, has said a lot.
This [Golden Rule Pledge] was a great first step for me to get out there in ministry. So thanks so much to you!
I don’t know how to end this note, but hopefully there won’t be an end. This is just the beginning…
I am proud of those Campus Crusade and IVP ministries and others like them around the country who stepped away from fear and up to the plate. This may be a difficult topic for many Christians who are accustomed to a more political, confrontational message regarding homosexuality. In fact, the same day Jordyne was silent, some Christians were protesting the Day of Silence elsewhere. I hope some questions haunt us - where were bridges built, at the protests or at Appalachian State? Can you really reach people who fear you?
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Saturday, April 26, 2008Golden Rule Pledge on the Day of Truth?
The Day of Truth is a 4 year old response to the GLSEN supported Day of Silence (just observed on the 25th). The Alliance Defense Fund sponsors it and it claims to break the silence of the the 25th with truth about homosexuality. The part that I find most objectionable about this day is the claim on the card given out at school is that change in homosexuality is possible. While I think that people may alter their behavior and I have worked with the Alliance Defense Fund to protect the right of clients to seek that end, I think it is quite another thing to promise change to high school kids who may have no religious or ideological reasons to want to consider it.
My intent here and now however is not to dwell on what I do not like about the Day of Truth. Rather, I want to propose that students consider a different approach. A small but passionate group of students distributed Golden Rule Pledge cards on Friday and some even remained silent. I will soon have some reports from the field. I believe many bridges were built and much ministry was conducted. Students from over 30 schools communicated the Golden Rule Pledge in one form or another and students from another 20 schools prayed for bridges to be built. I continue to believe gay people are not reached with the Gospel via protests and calls on them to change. Jesus calls on us to come first and then change. Repentence is certainly a part of conversion but the author and finisher of our faith is Jesus, not heterosexual attractions.
For those interested in the Golden Rule Pledge, go to the website www.goldenrulepledge.com.
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Tuesday, April 22, 2008Golden Rule Pledge - How about something really different?
Some conservative groups have advised parents to keep their children home on the Day of Silence, April 25, 2008. Sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, the Day of Silence supports the safety of gay students on high school and college campuses. Conservative groups, such as Mission: America are concerned that the Day of Silence promotes homosexual behavior.
Are we missing a teachable moment?
What if Evangelical kids and college students led the way in making schools safe for all students? Where could we start? How about this Friday, April 25, 2008?
Without altering convictions about sexuality, I propose that Evangelicals should have something more to contribute toward the elimination of harassment and violence against gay people and people who are viewed as different. Indeed, we should be leading the way to make schools safe and build bridges to those who often equate "Christian" with condemnation.
To pursue bridges, Michael Frey, Western PA Director for College Ministries with Campus Crusade and I are promoting an alternative. We propose that Christian kids join gay students by pledging to abide by Christ’s teaching in the Golden Rule. So far, as of this writing, students in 19 high schools and college plan to participate by agreeing with GLBT peers about respect of each other as Image bearers of God. Students can distribute pledges to honor the teaching of Christ to love as He loved and to treat others as we want to be treated.
Some bridges are being built. For instance, a Campus Crusade for Christ group at Slippery Rock recently entered a dialogue with a gay support group on campus and will help lead the call for respectful treatment of all students on campus. Randy Veccia, student leader, says the efforts of both groups will serve "to raise awareness that everyone deserves to be loved." Christian students in high schools in Greensboro, NC are going to reach out in ways not contemplated before.
Rev. Bob Stith, Gender Issues Strategist for the Southern Baptist convention had this to say about the Golden Rule Pledge Initiative:
Several years ago I stood outside a church which was being picketed by two very vocal and rabid “Christian” groups. Standing on the sidewalk were also some young lesbians doing their own picketing. The first group became more and more vocal in their opposition and insults. They began telling the young women how despicable they were and how God despised them.
At that point I walked over and told the girls, “I am a Christian and I do believe the Bible says homosexual behavior is sin. But I want you to know what these people are saying is wrong. I want to apologize to you and tell God does love you very much. Don’t ever let anyone convince you He doesn’t.”
I have long thought Christians were missing a great opportunity by not being more vocal in helping to make our schools safe places for all kids. It doesn’t require that we compromise our beliefs. Indeed it can give us a great opportunity that we might not otherwise have.
What a wonderful opportunity to express our convictions in a way that is positive, loving and redemptive. What a wonderful opportunity to train our children to care about all people, to model the example of Jesus and the woman at the well.
Who knows but what this could even be the beginning of a movement that will turn the tide of school shootings and violence in the hallways?
I hope you are correct, Bob.
For more information about this initiative, go to www.wthrockmorton.com/goldenrule.
If you have a Facebook account, go to this link and join there (even if you are not in school)
Wayne Jacobsen had this to say at his Lifestream blog; and here is a news story on the Christian Post.
Feel free to comment on Crosswalk or here...
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Thursday, April 17, 2008PA debate: Obama meant what he said about small towns
In last night’s Clinton-Obama debate in Philadelphia, moderator Charlie Gibson asked Obama to clarify his remarks regarding Pennsylvanians' bitterness with government and their gravitation toward guns and God. The entire transcript is here. I am reproducing the crux of the answers from Obama and Clinton. I don’t think he appreciably changed the basic meaning of his earlier comments.
Obama said:
And so the point I was making was that when people feel like Washington’s not listening to them, when they’re promised year after year, decade after decade, that their economic situation is going to change, and it doesn’t, then politically they end up focusing on those things that are constant, like religion.
They end up feeling “This is a place where I can find some refugee. This is something that I can count on.” They end up being much more concerned about votes around things like guns, where traditions have been passed on from generation to generation. And those are incredibly important to them.
And yes, what is also true is that wedge issues, hot-button issues, end up taking prominence in our –in our politics. And part of the problem is that when those issues are exploited, we never get to solve the issues that people really have to get some relief on, whether it’s health care or education or jobs.
Is he really saying that people become single issue or ideological voters (e.g., values voters) because they feel government is insensitive to their economic plight? He clearly believes there is some causal relationship - he uses the phrase, “end up” four times in this short narrative to cast interest in religion, guns, social issues as the result of frustration with government. I think this seriously misunderstands those on the other end of the spectrum from him on social issues.
I think Clinton made a pretty accurate statement in response:
I don’t believe that my grandfather or my father, or the many people whom I have had the privilege of knowing and meeting across Pennsylvania over many years, cling to religion when Washington is not listening to them. I think that is a fundamental, sort of, misunderstanding of the role of religion and faith in times that are good and times that are bad.
And I similarly don’t think that people cling to their traditions, like hunting and guns, either when they are frustrated with the government. I just don’t believe that’s how people live their lives.
At any rate, perhaps the most troubling thing I heard in the debate was the promise of both Democratic candidates to bring the troops home from Iraq, no matter what military leaders advised. Even if they advise the country will destabilize and our interests will be harmed, they said they would bring the troops home. They also promised no new taxes on people making 250k or less. Shades of George Bush the First…
Either comment here or join this conversation.
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008Barack Obama: Cultural anthropologist
Crosswalk published my article regarding Barack Obama and his opinions about why Pennsylvanians turn to religion and other traditional views. Here is the lead, hit the link to read the rest...
Barack Obama has a way with words. They trip lightly from his tongue, and some onlookers have swooned during his oratory. No one doubts his speechmaking ability. When opining off-the-cuff, however, he can get into trouble. Case in point: At a recent fundraiser among wealthy donors in San Francisco, some in the audience were preparing to join the Pennsylvania campaign and wondered aloud what questions Pennsylvanians might ask them. In taped remarks, Mr. Obama rightly noted that Pennsylvania is quite diverse and dismissed racism as a barrier to his campaign. However, he offered this preparation for his volunteers:
But the truth is ... our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
Posted on the Huffington Post website, these comments brought quick criticism. Seeing an opening, opponents Hillary Clinton and John McCain pounced on Mr. Obama as elitist and “out of touch” with working folk in the heartland.To read the rest, hit the link above...
