Sunday, November 23, 2008

Bob Jones University repents is racist past

Apparently things change, even at Bob Jones University. Now if they can just get Obama to speak there. Well, maybe we can hope for Clarence Thomas?

Debunking Christianity: It Truly Does an Old Atheist’s Heart Good to See Bible Christians Having to Eat Crow!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It would be more likely that they have someone like Alan Keyes speak.

As a BJU graduate, I'm profoundly pleased that they have finally owned up to this and repented. It is something that I was not very conscious of until after I graduated, but have become increasingly ashamed of the more I learned in more recent years. For that reason I generally tend to avoid telling African American co-workers where I graduated from college.

Several years ago, the University sent a survey to alumni for the purpose of getting feedback on how well they were doing as an institution in the eyes of alumni, and how well they were serving the alumni. The survey included a free-form-response type question in which the respondents could mention issues not covered in the survey. I responded with a lengthy appeal for them to consider reaching out and doing something to counter-act their racist past. I don't know if they read or considered my comments, but I am greatly pleased to see something like this.

The commenters at Debunking Christianity need to understand that this is not a matter of Christianity "evolving," but rather a group of flawed human beings who have finally come around to acknowledging and repenting of a sin they have promoted within their institution. This is entirely consistent with Christian theology which asserts that all human beings--even those who profess to be followers of Christ--are prone to sin, and that we all have our blind spots. It is not as though the southern-American bigots trotted out as representatives of Christianity are representative of all Christians everywhere at all times. After all, what religion was Dr. King?

Victor Reppert said...

If the racial bigotry at Bob Jones University is fair game, then so is the bigotry of Darwin.

IlĂ­on said...

Racial bigotry? That term is quite out of place in discussing the views of BJU.

I find it difficult-to-impossible to believe that the BJU people think that blacks are sub-human.

That other fellow did imagine that.