Generational change
About 15 years
ago I was a guest at the annual meeting of the Association of Christians Teaching Sociology. In one session a professor reported on a
student's project. Taking the Century as a barometer of mainline Protestantism and Christianity Today as a barometer of evangelicalism, his student
compared the respective responses to the civil rights movement. The student
found that the Century was very hospitable toward the movement and that CT was critical of
it. (Full disclosure: At the time of this ACTS meeting, I was working for
CT.)
Since ACTS is comprised
largely of evangelical scholars, there was some hanging of heads in the room.
Evangelicals, they agreed, had been on the wrong side of history, not to speak
of the wrong side of justice.
I thought of this after
reading about another meeting, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities' annual meeting of presidents. Not surprisingly, evangelical colleges
are increasingly being pressured by students and alumni to take another look at
the issue of homosexuality. A seminar on how CCCU members are handling--or
should handle--this pressure was closed to reporters. But it appears that the
dominant messages in this meeting were these: hold true to the traditional
biblical interpretation on this issue, and demonstrate patience with students
and others who challenge this.
