All the while, he ignores the fact that a child is legally and ethically incapable of consenting to sexual contact of any kind with an adult - a fact that’s in no way diminished when we acknowledge an adult’s autonomy to have sex with other adults, regardless of their genders. His argument presents a slippery slope fallacy, insisting we must hold the line against growing acceptance of gay and lesbian relationships if we hope to ethically oppose acceptance of pedophiles in the future. … You might say that that is not ever going to happen, but what do you think they were saying decades ago was never going to happen? It’s happening. And when you speak out against the pedophiles, you will be intolerant and judgmental because you have drawn a line. “We had better wake up to this because if genetics and preference define what is normal and what is moral, and any attempt to draw a line with scripture is seen as intolerance and being judgmental, then one day you will legalize pedophiles and protect them. ![]() ![]() “We had better wake up to the war that is happening around us,” Welch said. But I still feel stunted by my IWU experience.ĭuring my sophomore year, in 2010, Pastor Miles Welch and Senior Pastor Kevin Myers from 12Stone Church in Georgia led a spiritual emphasis week tackling hot-button topics, including homosexuality. Now four years since graduation, I have a committed long-term relationship and a promising career trajectory. It was a long, discomforting process, but it was necessary. For me, however, attaining personal integration meant coming out as gay. As long as they’re transparent with themselves and any future partner, their abstinence resembles a chastity vow taken by a straight nun or priest. I love and respect my former classmates who, on account of their Christian conviction, choose to abstain from same-sex romance, despite their deep longing for such intimacy. So the university insulated conservative students in a theological safe space free from ideas they might find objectionable. Campus leaders found it too taboo to even mention that some Christians who hold scripture in high regard think it might also be possible to be both gay and a believer. Second, sometimes the “correct” answer isn’t the best answer.Īs a gay man, I found this one-sidedness most frustrating as I heard speaker after speaker decry society’s growing acceptance of homosexuality. First, it fails to instill in students any critical thinking skills. ![]() For an educational institution, that’s a big problem in at least two ways. ![]() There’s a pattern here.ĭuring my four years as an undergrad at the conservative evangelical school, the university consistently showed deference to guest speakers who preach and teach the “correct” conservative response to any given sociopolitical quandary other points of view, meanwhile, were summarily dismissed if mentioned at all. To make sense of the anti-Pence sentiment, you need to understand that his selection isn’t an isolated incident. But it seems some people have had a hard time understanding why IWU students would take offense to a generic graduation speech from the sitting governor. Mike Pence as a spring commencement speaker.Īfter citing a laundry list of Pence’s controversial political activity with regard to education, immigration and gay rights, they marched through the student center and called upon the administration to seek student input in the future. But I was proud to see a group of students and alumni stage a peaceful demonstration on Indiana Wesleyan University’s manicured Marion campus, picketing against the decision to host Gov.
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