By Shannon Bothwell
Last Saturday, the university welcomed a thousand people to Campus Day, the annual event at which prospective students and their parents explore the school, learn about our programs, and meet students involved with the various campus activities. Despite the persistent drizzle, it was a day for the campus to present its best face to the accepted students, except that last Saturday the face of our campus had the equivalent of a breakout of festering zits, in the form of numerous Christian graffiti chalked on the Quad, the Spirit Walk, and other locations. This display of irreligious fervor undermined the purpose of Campus Day, and was an embarrassment to the university, other students, and genuine Christians.
Campus Day gives accepted students an opportunity to increase their knowledge about the university, in order that they may make a more informed choice about where to spend the next four years of their lives. While admissions brochures and college guides may provide some insight into the character of the institution, there is no substitute for being on campus and getting an intuitive "feel" for the place. So the whole point of Campus Day is to provide an accurate and multi-faceted view of what the university is like, and what distinguishes it from other universities.
While the Christian Chalkers may have believed that they were helping out the admissions office by adding to the campus decoration, they were in fact destroying the very purpose of the event. Accepted students and their parents stared quizzically at the chalkwork, asking whether the university is always like this. Frazzled tour guides groped for explanations, hoping to convince the visitors that we are not in fact a school full of sectarians. The impression that many accepted students and their parents took away is one of intolerance and religiocentrism, which is simply not an accurate representation of life at this university.
As a non-Christian, I have been able to survive and even flourish here, despite not adhering to the dominant religious beliefs. Once I learned to avoid the first floor of Reynolda Hall on Friday evenings, I have only rarely been a victim of jarring Christian encounters. I have never been subjected to aggressive witnessing or proselytizing; on the contrary, I have met many Christians who are willing to discuss our religious differences in a non-confrontational manner. In short, religious intolerance is not a major component of the university's institutional personality, and to present it as such is incorrect.
I believe that individuals and groups should have the right to express their views in a public forum. However, piping up in public comes with responsibilities, one of which is the responsibility to tell the truth. The individuals who placed the Christian graffiti around campus acted irresponsibly by intentionally presenting a false and misleading view of this university.
Not all students here are persuaded that Jesus saves, but more important, legitimate Christians would not fall prey to the poor understanding of theology evidenced by some of the graffiti. One item, placed on the Quad in front of Kitchin House, suggested that a higher grade pont average is one consequence of accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior: Christians will get an A+ in organic because all things are possible through God. This claim is an embarrassment to genuine Christians, who hold and practice their religious beliefs for deeply personal and spiritual reasons, rather than to gain admission to the medical school of their choice.
The Campus Day chalkings are an embarrassment to the school, both because they offer a distorted view of life at the university and because they are grotesque parodies of Christian theology. The result of such behavior can only be to discourage non-Christians, or anyone who does not want to be confronted with such holy comments on a regular basis, from attending the university.
Had I seen similar messages while visiting the school, I would never have even considered enrolling. This Christian graffiti may serve to make next fall's entering class even less diverse, socially and intellectually, than it otherwise would have been. It may also be a serious blow to organizations associated with less-represented faiths that depend on new students for membership.
The last time I checked, the message of the New Testament is love. Boys and girls, this "Christian" graffiti is not about love, rather it appears to be a concerted attempt to dissuade non-Christian or non-fundamentalist students from entering the university, and as such it is an act of religious bigotry. |