Religion is a funny business and by funny I mean in an ironic and black humor fashion. Bokononism (the made-up religion in Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle") emphasizes that a useful religion can be based completely on lies as long as one believes in those lies. This is, of course, the opposite pole of the belief that a religion (i.e., one's own) is based completely and irrefutably on truth. I think most people fall somewhere between these extremes in order to be part of some society. But I have taken us far from the issue at hand.
The situation at Hope College and similar institutions might be resolved in a way comparable to that used to resolve another important social situation in the past, namely, the use of the Bible to justify slavery. One source one might want to take a look at is the following: Lennox, S. J. (2012). 'One in Christ': Galatians 3:28 and the holiness agenda. Evangelical Quarterly, 84(3), 195-212. (available through EBSCOHost at your library) The article focuses on the reliance on the Bible to provide justification either for or against slavery (the article focuses on the use of Galatians 3:28 in support of the abolitionist/anti-slavery position though not everyone was in agreement on this; Footnote 11 from Lennox identifies the Biblical sources that Moses Stuart believed supported slavery -- quoting: |11 The passages are Matthew 22:39; Matthew 7:12; |Acts 17:26; Romans 3:29; and Ephesians 2:15 (Moses Stuart, |Conscience and the Constitution, 100ff.). Of course, as Lennox points out, those who argued that the Bible did not support the use of slavery ultimately won the argument.... because the North won the U.S. Civil War, thus showing that they were right. Perhaps a minor thing like that will resolve these religious disagreements. Like I said, religion is a funny business. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] P.S. Galatians 3:28 would also be used to argue for more rights for women. I think we've seen how well that has worked out. On Fri, 15 Apr 2016 08:03:38 -0700, Jim Clark wrote:
Hi Interesting tensions at Hope College, apparently including differences over sexual orientation. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/04/15/students-and-faculty-members-rally-behind-hope-college-president-who-may-be-ousted?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=cc772f204f-DNU20160415&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-cc772f204f-197432805 Hope is the home of David Myers, who has taken a balanced (liberal?) view on the issue of religion and sexual orientation. http://www.davidmyers.org/Brix?pageID=16 Must be a challenge in some faith-based institutions with societal changes on such issues. Although perhaps not as much of a threat to one's well-being as other places in the world where any challenge to orthodoxy is met with more vigorous reactions. https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2016/04/14/kuwaiti-professor-of-philosophy-charged-with-blasphemy-for-arguing-that-the-constitution-supercedes-the-quran/
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