Are College Campuses Religious Safe-Zones?
By: Sean McKeever
The academic world is inundated with discrimination, oppression, and hate crimes. Nary does a day go by when these atrocities are not discussed, decried, or otherwise defamed. However, one kind of abuse is rarely mentioned: religious. Sometimes the persecution of Muslims is disparaged, but these critiques are usually more politically than religiously motivated.
Despite this dearth of coverage, religious intimidation is a real problem on college campuses. Many Christians, in particular, do not always feel “safe” or “welcomed” on college campuses. Their views are misunderstood, belittled, and ridiculed, and oftentimes they are exposed to more rigorous official university scrutiny because of their beliefs.
Muhlenberg Bullies
All college students deserve the right to freedom of speech. Muhlenberg College explicitly affirms this freedom in their “Social Code.” They also explicitly affirm their duty to uphold a complete non-discriminatory policy, including concerns with religious beliefs. These affirmations were drawn into question, though, during a Christian event a few years ago.
Jed*, an outspoken advocate of Christianity, and a group of Christian students, gathered in Seegers Union, the school’s student union, and began publicly reading from the Gospel of John. Most students paid no attention, but a few listened for a while. Eventually, Greg, an openly Jewish student who had theological conflicts with Jed, saw the proceedings and loudly called campus security. Even though a Messianic Jew was one of the students doing the reading, Greg thought the reading was fomenting anti-Semitism. When the campus security officer arrived, he proclaimed loudly enough for at least one of the students to hear that they could not read from the Bible in a public space. He also tried to use his authority to get them to stop. Further, he demanded to speak to the club’s advisor immediately, even though the event took place at night. After confronting Greg and Jed, the officer hung around for a while. Admitting that there was nothing he could do because of religious freedom, he left and allowed the students to keep reading. Afterwards, Jed was forced to go through a campus judicial hearing over the ordeal.
Students involved with the reading felt that Christians were the only ones who were ever targeted for speaking out in public. They also recounted other times when they were called out for what they believed.
Julianne recalls one course where a professor went out of his way to attack Christianity. After Julianne stood up for her beliefs the professor insinuated she was stupid and lost a lot of respect for her.
Another student, Gina, recalls a class where the professor, in trying to see if anyone knew the Bible, asked if there were any “Bible thumpers” or “Jesus freaks” in the class. He said there was always one. Gina asked herself, “Should I raise my hand?” In the end she did not.
While no one has the right not to be offended and professors also have freedom of speech, the classroom should not be used as a bully pulpit. Unfortunately, many professors do use their position of authority to attack and belittle certain faiths or ideologies. As these aforementioned students attested, in their experience, that ideology is often Christianity.
Muhlenberg has a history of these intimidating tactics. About a decade ago, there was a student who was a notorious troublemaker. He was involved with drugs and was generally seen by the campus community as a bit of a rabble rouser. While at Muhlenberg, he converted to Christianity. The next day a group of Christians walked into the cafeteria and were pelted by food thrown by this student’s friends. The Christians did not even know the student had converted.
If these sorts of actions and attitudes were used against feminism, multiculturalism, or homosexuality, there would be uproar. When they are used against Christians, however, there is barely a murmur.
When things like this happen on college campuses, can we really say they are safe zones?
*Some of the names in this story have been changed.
