Christianity Politicized

By Jack Hoblitzell

Images Editor

everal weeks ago, I was in the Student Government office trying to find out what needed to be done in order to establish a new student group on campus. Someone in the office asked what kind of group I was trying to set up. I told him that we were trying to start a Christian Fellowship on campus and we needed the approval of the Student Government Association if we wanted to sponsor events or bring in speakers. His response was, "Great. That's the last thing we need at Trinity; a fundamentalist Christian group."

He was joking when he said that, but it was indicative of the attitudes that many college students, and many college administrators, hold towards Christians; attitudes that are stereotypical, full of misconceptions, and maybe even hypocritical. I see these beliefs and attitudes in people almost everyday, and it makes be angry because they are wrong; they are so far off that mark that it's humorous.

A majority of Trinity students either fear Christianity or are apathetic towards it. Many people, when they find out that I'm a member of a Christian Fellowship on campus get a surprised, almost shocked look in their faces. "Really?" they say, "that's cool." Then they become apprehensive or try to change the subject. I think they think I'm going to try to preach to them or something. People look at Christians differently on campus. SGA looks at Christian groups more closely than they do other groups, especially if there is any affiliation with off campus groups. Most students in general assume that to be a Christian means that you also have to be a fundamentalist member of the Christian right. On this campus, Christianity has become politicized.

These attitudes aren't confined to the Trinity campus. Talking to friends at schools around the country, I've found that they're commonly held attitudes at most colleges, excluding those that are religiously affiliated or tied to a church. Ryan McJunkin, a sophomore at Bowdoin College wrote,

Here at Bowdoin, religion is pretty much ignored. In general, I think people don't like it when other people on campus express their religious views because they think that they are trying to impose them on others. This is especially true of Christians. People are afraid that the Christians are trying to convert them, I think. Besides that, religion is non-existent here except for the people who discuss it in clubs, like the Bowdoin Christian Fellowship or the B'hai Club.

Christianity has also become extremely politicized on college campus's. Nate Orders, an engineering major at Cornell, expressed this in an email he wrote to me several days ago:

Here's a little tid-bit that pisses me off the more I think about it. Residence hall bulletin boards: Absolutely nothing even vaguely Christian may be posted. Even the christmas tree, and inherently pagan symbol has been banned. The university is afraid that it might offend some non-Chrisitians. Yet, the university doesn't think twice before covering a good half of the board with flyers for gay and lesbian support groups. Leviticus 18:22, God says to the Israelites, "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination." The word of the Lord. Gee, I don't suppose any Christians could be offended by those posters. I see a double standard.

Neither Orders nor myself are homophobic or anti-gay. In printing his whole quote, I am trying to show that there is a clear double standard that is present in many instances when Christianity is being dealt with. In trying to foster diversity, Cornell has not only politicized Christianity, but crossed the line into exclusionary practices. While advocating acceptance of a group and giving it a voice, they are preventing another group from having its voice heard. They are doing this under the mantle of tolerance. Not only do I see a double standard, but I see the hypocrisy behind the policies of the administration at Cornell.

Christianity has become politicized. In her book Democracy on Trial, Jean Elshtain argued that if everything is political, then nothing is political. What she means is that if politics finds its way into everything, then there is no distinction between the political and the personal. The dividing line between these two notions has been erased. Many students here and at other schools think that to be a Christian means that you carry with you a certain set of political beliefs. I believe this notion is misguided. While one's religious beliefs may effect one's political views, religion and politics are not one and the same. Religion is a personal thing. It is not a list of do's and do not's. I believe Christianity has more to do with faith, love, and compassion than it does with abortion, school prayer, and laws dealing with homosexuality. The fact that many people associate Christianity with the latter shows widely how accepted these beliefs have become, and how, in my view, many people do not grasp what it really means to be a Christian.