Religion
Related: About this forumSomewhere Over the Rainbow: Wheaton College Would Like to Pretend Its LGBTQ Students Dont Exist
From the article:
But something else happened: several days later, The Bencha beloved slab of concrete on the campus that is frequently (and licitly) tagged with spray paint by various student groups throughout the yearwas painted with rainbow stripes and the words We Cant Be Erased. Were Here. Were Queer. And just as the rainbow flag was taken down as speedily as possible, the rainbow bench was painted white within twelve hours................
If Wheatons administrationor, perhaps more accurately, Wheatons ultra-conservative donor basewants to get rid of someone or something in their community, they dont need to make a reasonable case for an expulsion, apparently; they just need to say, This could be interpreted as inconsistent with our Statement of Faith, and its all over.
To read more:
http://religiondispatches.org/somewhere-over-the-rainbow-wheaton-college-would-like-to-pretend-its-lgbtq-students-dont-exist/
Thomas Hurt
(13,903 posts)I imagine it makes them feel something like slave owners sweating a slave uprising.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)Rich donors like to see that the beneficiaries of their contributions are properly appreciative and submissive.
bobbieinok
(12,858 posts)See posts by slacktivist at patheos.com about Wheaton's firing of a black woman professor. And the college's long relationship with Dennis Hastert - he's an alum, now a former member of the board, and a major donor.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)the fact that the "Hastert Rule" was partly the reason for the hyper-partisan hatred in Congress.
MineralMan
(146,288 posts)offered me a free ride scholarship to Wheaton at the beginning of my senior year in high school. Apparently, there had been some sort of vote by the deacons. Although active at that church in many ways, mostly having to do with music, what faith I might have had in my younger years was rapidly disappearing as I learned more and more about the world around me.
By the time I entered my senior year, I was no more interested in attending such a school than in striking myself on the head with a hammer. After receiving the letter about this, I wrote a very polite letter back to the pastor of that church, declining the offer, giving the excuse that I intended a career in engineering.
Wheaton would have been a very, very poor fit for me, and I would have been expelled from there, no doubt, in a very short time. That's one of the most interesting things that happened to me as a 17-year-old atheist-to-be. It was jaw-dropping, in fact.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)who wore the hijab as a show of solidarity show the limits of tolerance at Wheaton.
Volstagg
(233 posts)But, hey, firmly held religious beliefs. The Pope things gay marriage is a plot from Satan to ruin the family, so turning to religion as a bastion of liberal, secular society is probably not the best decision.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)to atheists have any electoral significance?
Volstagg
(233 posts)Why do we have to have parties that apply to any specific type of believer? How about they appeal to a particular governing philosophy?
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)No surprise, given that most people are religious believers.
Volstagg
(233 posts)But our government was created so as to not include religion. A wise decision by Madison et al.