If you have been aware of the local SoCal news lately, then you'll know that last month there was a bit of a scandal at APU over a professor. It was kind of blown out of proportion by people sort of involved, but it was a mutual decision between the school and the professor for the professor to leave. The scandal came when the local news media got with of the situation and exploited it for their own benefit, even to the point of trespassing onto campus, playing into the already hot-topic in our society.
But that's not the issue I have. Well, mostly. The issues I have stem from our society's obsession with offense and hot-topic issues like gay rights, and the mentality that people seem to have that if someone isn't with you, then they are clearly against you, and therefore you have the right to hate them.
Here is the basic situation: There was a professor who taught Bible classes here for several years who was born a woman, but identifies herself as a man. She kept this to herself because transgenderism was considered a mental disease until very recently. Then when transgernderism was declassified from a disease and recognized as a thing, she came out as transgender, and entered into conversation with the university about working at APU. Because APU is a private university, they can set their beliefs and hire/fire accordingly. Because APU's doctrine does not match that of the professor's, both decided to part ways, so that the professor could work at a place that better matches her doctrine. She is not teaching her classes here at APU for the remainder of the semester (she was replaced by someone else), but is receiving her pay for the rest of the semester.
There it is. Shortly after this happened, the LGBTQ alliance on campus found out about it and started a petition to try to get the professor to be able to retain her job. To be honest, that did irritate me a little bit, because it assumes that APU has the same standards as other universities, and it does not. I have personal beliefs about sexual orientation that definitely go against the norm of society today, but that's not the point of this post. Despite what I think, I DO NOT think that people who identify themselves as LGBTQ should be treated any differently by the church than those who do not. God's grace covers EVERYONE, even those that we may not agree with or think shouldn't deserve it. The fact is, NONE of us deserve God's grace. That's why it's called
grace. The attitude of some churches towards homosexuals as, "You are sinning and God hates you and if you don't change your ways you will go to Hell" is wrong and does not display God's love. No wonder people don't want to be part of the church. Why would I want to go to a place that tells me that God hates me, and then turns around and tells others that God loves them? It is dealing out God's judgement in a way that I don't think is right. We should be loving people into the Kingdom of God, not trying to scare them out of Hell. There's enough hate everywhere else. Let's try love instead.
(Ok, off my soapbox now...)
That wasn't my point of this post.
Here is my point:
The actions of the LGBTQ alliance on campus seemed to alienate themselves from the rest of the student body. As I mentioned, there was a little bit of an attitude of, if you're not with us you're against us, and therefore we have a right to hate you. I know students on both sides of this divide (LGBTQ members/supporters and nonmembers/supporters), and I love them all. It's not my place to hate. The alliance did a demonstration on campus a couple of weeks ago, and they made T-shirts and sat together in one section in chapel and then did something on West Campus, although after chapel I wasn't on that campus anymore, so I don't know what. My issue boils down to the fact that it was so segregated, and there seems to me to be no room for someone to have a different opinion or disagree with their actions, but still love the actual person. I feel like if I were to, on that day of the demonstration, go to someone wearing one of those T-shirts and say that I don't agree with them, they would probably say something along the lines that I am a terrible person who doesn't care about equality, and therefore they don't want anything to do with me. It seems that there is no room for discussion that results in people agreeing to disagree, but still recognizing God's grace and love abound in both people's lives. Our society and especially my generation is so obsessed with finding people that are like us that we don't really know how to civilly interact with people who are different from us.
To be fair, I didn't actually talk to any of the people wearing shirts. My expectation could have been countered by exactly what I am vying for.
Another issue I have stems from our society's obsession with being offended. People are so concerned with being politically correct about EVERYTHING, because they know how ready people are to be offended. Sometimes it almost seems to have to do with pride: like people are proud that they are offended about something. And if something goes against what someone believes and they don't get offended by it, other people get offended for them. I have actually seen this, someone saying, "That doesn't offend you!? I'm offended FOR you!" Really? Why? Why are we SO obsessed with living offended lives? Don't you think that life would be better and even easier if we try to live unoffended? This whole concept just baffles me.
Ok last thing: One of the issues I had with the news teams showing up on campus was the fact that they expected everyone to have an opinion on the issue. They came onto campus (without permission, with is trespassing) and started stopping students on their way to class to ask them questions about the issue. When this happened, the issue was still pretty fresh and a lot of people didn't know all of the particulars about the situation, and therefore hadn't formed opinions yet. My roommate was stopped by the news team, and when she said she didn't have an opinion, they pressured her to make one right there on the spot. It was out of the question that she not have an opinion. This isn't an isolated incident; it's a mentality that is prevalent within our society. If you don't have an opinion about something, then you'd better make one fast, no matter if it is ill-informed and you don't know all of the details and circumstances. I feel the same thing has happened with the war happening in Syria and the US's talk of getting involved. Why is our culture so obsessed with having an opinion and "knowing?" Why is it a bad thing to "not know?" It drives me crazy, because it doesn't give people the chance to critically think about the world around, or for some people it gives them an excuse not to critically think about it. Just like with the previous issue, I don't have any proposed solutions, but I do think people should be more aware of these issues, and maybe think for themselves a little more.
This revelation was just completed for me this morning as I was leaving chapel. I didn't form an opinion before this, because I needed time to process it. And I know it is pretty controversial, and could cause back-lash. But I felt it needed to be said, and this seems like a more appropriate platform to do so, rather than Facebook.
So there it is. Have a marvelous weekend everyone!
Grace and Peace,
Suzannah
