The City of Seattle and the Seattle City Council came out in support of Soulforce yesterday just as the Freedom Bus arrived on the campus of Seattle Pacific University. For those of you who don't know about Soulforce, this group has toured the nation over the last two years, this year with two buses crossing the east and west sides of the country. In past action, James Dobson, leader of Focus on the Family and false prophet extraordinaire, has gained the attention of the group.
For 2007, as an act of tremendous faith, Soul Force is confronting the nation's religious institutions and private Christian colleges. By confronting with love those who promote conservative, anti gay, anti family theology, Soul Force hopes to shed light on the dangerous and harmful practises some of these institutions encourage toward gays. The effort has been lead by Mel White a former ghost writer for the likes of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.
Along the way members of the bus ride have experienced violence, vandalism, persecution, and arrests. Yet in some cases, activists have engaged in encouraging dialogue with Christians who are rethinking some of their attitudes toward gays.
For details click here:
http://www.soulforce.org/email_campaign/email_4_11_2007.html
To read their blog, go here:
http://www.soulforce.org/blogs/
On a personal note, I graduated from Seattle Pacific University in 1999. As an undergrad, I became a published researcher which brought recognition to the school. (Communicating Cultural and Ethnic Identity-"The Chicken Haulers and the Highliners:CB Talk Among Interstate Truckers-Rowman and Littlefield 2004) I continue to have a good sense of the climate at the school as I still remain close to numerous people who work for the university.
I should also add that during most of my time at Seattle Pacific University, my sexual orientation wasn't exactly a secret. My partner and I had been profiled in OUT Magazine shortly before I returned to finish my degree in 1998. In Ellenesque Style, the curse enabled by having your relationship featured in print followed. Our relationship imploded shortly after I returned to school.
Yeah imagine that. Your attending a Christian University, your partner of ten years goes AWOL and who ya gonna call?
Although the "official" campus policy on same sex orientation was draconian, I never experienced any direct hostility from either my professors, or other students-At any time.
I did encounter ignorance on a regular basis, but that's why we expose ourselves to learning-to overcome our blindsides. I had just as much ignorance about being black or first nation. For many of my fellow students, I was the first gay person they'd ever met and I didn't exactly fit the Will and Grace Stereotype. It was more like Hee Haw meets Ivy League.
Yet, regardless of the openness I found on the student level, I was always aware that the attitudes of the administration and the alumni could be an entirely different matter. Some of my profs expressed fear of rocking the boat. They worried about jeopardizing their careers at the university if they were to be more outspoken or progressive.
For an institution of higher learning to foster such a climate of fear certainly on the surface runs contrary to their constant mantra espoused by the university's President to "Engage the Culture." How can one engage a culture that is marginalized, feared, or rarely, openly talked about-save the yearly tirades against gays printed in The Falcon, the student newspaper?
My reality, and I do have one, is that Seattle Pacific has not always engaged culture well. On many occasions, the institution has stubbornly ran from any exposure to elements that don't jive with their theology or from situations that might not have neat, happy endings. Life is messy. So is learning. Double that when it comes to applying life to faith.
I attended school at SPU during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, and I remember what kind of hell it was for a poz student to have attended there during that time. I knew several people my age who were facing serious stuff and I can attest that on many occasions the last place they found support was on that campus. And that was only 50,ooo,ooo deaths ago in the history of the pandemic.
Minority participation on campus is limited. It is tremendously expensive to attend school there. Being a Methodist school, many of the students come from very white backgrounds. As much as the school attempts to portray a different snapshot, the demographics are what they are and the atmosphere found on campus reflects this. Poverty. Race. Gangs. Undocumented status. Class ism. The challenges of working class realities or single parent struggles are more theoretical than hands on. In a sense, the university stands as a sort of isolation ward from the "fallen world" and many students seem to embrace this.
Still I do not regret my attendance at SPU and I learned more about faith, challenging circumstances, and overcoming barriers than at any other place I've attended school. Some of these experiences were so intense I eventually "shared". That's what we writers do-we share.
About a gay cowboy with AIDs and his collision with failing meds.
http://www.highmountainranch.com/SomeDay/Ch7.shtml
About a Makah young woman, whale hunting, and her attempts to juggle first nation spirituality and Christianity...
http://www.highmountainranch.com/SomeDay/Ch8.shtml
About an African American Woman who faced cancer and racism all in the same quarter...
http://www.highmountainranch.com/SomeDay/Ch15.shtml
In 2000, shortly after I graduated, SPU published my essay "Clearcut" in their literary compilation Second Essence. (http://www.highmountainranch.com/SomeDay/Ch2.shtml). Because of that step alone, I remain hopeful. I love SPU. But like any institution, it is far from perfect. Still, if SPU was willing to publish an openly gay author, they certainly aren't as backwoods as Bob Jones University or Oral Roberts U.
Indeed, as the years pass, I've witnessed many attempts by the university to move into the here and now. For instance when I originally attended SPU in the mid eighties, dancing was strictly forbidden. Students slunk off campus to events called "functions" to boogie down. Now dancing is an acceptable form of expression and recreation. Students don't fear violating university policy if they get their groove on.
SPU probably won't become a liberal haven like the University of Washington. That's OK. The school has the right to reflect a conservative philosophy. But what they don't seem to get is that conservatism and Christianity are not incompatible with same sex sexual orientation. Especially, as even many evangelicals are beginning to grudgingly acknowledge, sexual orientation is not a choice. Just as religious leaders can no longer hide from dinosaur bones, they also can't run from the science that is emerging on the issues of sexual attraction.
I applaud Soul Force for loving the institution of Seattle Pacific so much that they are willing to travel all the way across America to confront them as Christ commanded. If along the way, it becomes just a wee bit uncomfortable for the administration and the alumni-well that's the price SPU pays when the culture is forced to engage them, on their home turf.
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