Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Wheaton College Would Like to Pretend Its LGBTQ Students Dont Exist

[guillaumeb]

From the article:

Towards the end of April, a rainbow flag was surreptitiously hung in the school’s cafeteria, appearing among dozens of national flags. The next morning, once people spotted it, the flag was promptly taken down (but not before eyewitnesses snapped some pictures and a student’s mother raged against it to Fox News columnist Todd Starnes: “When the gay pride flag flies at your Christian college, it is a direct attack on the Word of God, It’s shameful…” )..................

But something else happened: several days later, The Bench—a beloved slab of concrete on the campus that is frequently (and licitly) tagged with spray paint by various student groups throughout the year—was painted with rainbow stripes and the words “We Can’t Be Erased. We’re Here. We’re Queer.” And just as the rainbow flag was taken down as speedily as possible, the rainbow bench was painted white within twelve hours................

If Wheaton’s administration—or, perhaps more accurately, Wheaton’s ultra-conservative donor base—wants to get rid of someone or something in their community, they don’t 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 it’s 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]

1. Morally superior people don't like it when their inferiors get uppity....

I imagine it makes them feel something like slave owners sweating a slave uprising.

[guillaumeb]

2. And they like to control things.

Rich donors like to see that the beneficiaries of their contributions are properly appreciative and submissive.

[bobbieinok]

3. Other info about Wheaton

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]

4. Along with his reputation as a pedophile, Hastert has as an accomplishment

the fact that the "Hastert Rule" was partly the reason for the hyper-partisan hatred in Congress.

[MineralMan]

5. For whatever reason, the church I attended during high school

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]

6. This incident, and the incident with the non-Muslim Professor

who wore the hijab as a show of solidarity show the limits of tolerance at Wheaton.

[Volstagg]

7. It's where the Billy Graham museum is, soooooo...

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]

8. But if most Democrats are believers, can any Party that appeals only

to atheists have any electoral significance?

[Volstagg]

9. We have a secular government.

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]

10. A secular government composed overwhelmingly of religious believers.

No surprise, given that most people are religious believers.

[Volstagg]

11. And that's fine.

But our government was created so as to not include religion. A wise decision by Madison et al.

[guillaumeb]

12. If only it were followed. eom