\u201cThe Sacrificial Witness of the Christian Moral Tradition\u201d<\/a> (you can watch the video through the link). \u00a0I\u2019m thankful that, from what I could see, it went over well.<\/p>\nIn reality, I don\u2019t think I was offering anything especially new. \u00a0I was merely trying to say what Scripture does: that the gospel creates a love for life and human flourishing. \u00a0This is, I think, a crucial part of what I called the \u201cnew social witness\u201d of young evangelicals. \u00a0We are thankful that the Moral Majority stood up for issues of life. \u00a0We will not throw them under the bus as some are willing to do. \u00a0It does seem to be the case, though, that we are going to make our arguments from the perspective of human flourishing and dignity. \u00a0We\u2019re going to try to make the case with a smile, and to view our enemies as principalities and powers, not people bearing God\u2019s image (Genesis 1:26-27).<\/p>\n
This does not mean, however, that we will not stand up for Christianity in a bold way in the public square. \u00a0It does not mean, furthermore, that we will accept encroachments on the church and on religions more generally. \u00a0After I wrote on the unfair actions of the Tufts student government to defund a Christian group, I received a comment that wondered whether I wasn\u2019t freaking out over \u201csoft\u201d persecution. \u00a0It was actually suggested that such persecution might be a net positive, as it might toughen the church up.<\/p>\n
I want to respond by saying that I \u00a0disagree strongly with this idea. \u00a0Persecution does afford the chance to suffer with Christ; it may, as well, toughen us up. \u00a0But we should never think that it is inherently good. \u00a0It is not. \u00a0It is inherently evil. \u00a0We must fight it. \u00a0We fight it when it is soft, in fact, so that it will not become \u201chard.\u201d \u00a0And we will very much fight for the right to organize our own groups according to our convictions\u2013even as we will fight for the right of other groups to do the very same. \u00a0So yes, Jeremy from the comments, to your stimulating question, I do want homosexual groups to be able to choose their members. \u00a0I want Christian groups to be exclusively Christian if they so desire, and Muslim groups to be exclusively Muslim if they desire, and Poodle Owners Groups to be exclusively populated by, well, poodle owners and those that love them.<\/p>\n
This is not some convoluted, super-technical philosophical idea. \u00a0It\u2019s humorous to me that we\u2019re defending the rights of groups to practice their own beliefs and police their own membership. \u00a0That should be a given. \u00a0What Tufts, Bates, and other schools have done to Christian groups is unfair, ungenerous, and directly counter to the spirit that such institutions foster. \u00a0It is not bad that campuses would have diverse groups of diverse beliefs; that historically has been understood as a good. \u00a0It should be. \u00a0It makes for a lively campus filled with meaningful interaction and debate, even on issues that people disagree about strongly.<\/p>\n
Someone might say, \u201cWell, yes, but Christians believe that homosexuality is wrong, which wounds gays and lesbians.\u201d \u00a0There\u2019s much to say here, but fundamentally, campus groups of all kinds differ sharply from one another. \u00a0The Muslim student group and the Christian student group, for example, each believe the other is worshiping God wrongly. \u00a0They actually believe the other group is\u00a0wrong<\/em>. \u00a0But in a free society that prizes the free exercise of religious beliefs, such interaction is understood as a given, as in fact a sign of health. \u00a0Diversity is not necessarily a weakness in the public square; I would argue it is a strength of society.<\/p>\nSo: we should continue to make this kind of case on campuses and in public. \u00a0But: remembering the Christian moral tradition, we will know that ultimately, this world is not our home. \u00a0We may in fact be persecuted even as we graciously and courageously contend for our rights and for the cause of the weak and unprotected. \u00a0Should that happen, I believe that many young evangelicals will not shrink back. \u00a0In the image of Christ, we will instead continue to witness<\/a> and, it must be said, to sacrifice.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last week I blogged that I was traveling to Family Research Council in Washington, DC to give the Family Policy Lecture. \u00a0I was indeed able to give the lecture, entitled \u201cThe Sacrificial Witness of the Christian Moral Tradition\u201d (you can watch the video through the link). \u00a0I\u2019m thankful that, from what I could see, it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,257,266],"tags":[3159,3160,1249,13176,3158,3161],"class_list":["post-4003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cultural-engagement","category-politics","category-public-square","tag-christian-moral-tradition","tag-family-policy-lecture","tag-family-research-council","tag-jesus-christ","tag-moral-majority","tag-persecution-of-the-church"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>Last week I blogged that I was traveling to Family Research Council in Washington, DC to give the Family Policy Lecture. \u00a0I was indeed able to give the lecture, entitled \u201cThe Sacrificial Witness of the Christian Moral Tradition\u201d<\/a> (you can watch the video through the link). \u00a0I\u2019m thankful that, from what I could see, it went over well.<\/p>\n