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posted by CoolHand on Monday August 29 2016, @01:42AM   Printer-friendly
from the it-takes-all-kinds dept.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/opinion/sunday/a-confession-of-liberal-intolerance.html?_r=0

WE progressives believe in diversity, and we want women, blacks, Latinos, gays and Muslims at the table — er, so long as they aren't conservatives. Universities are the bedrock of progressive values, but the one kind of diversity that universities disregard is ideological and religious. We're fine with people who don't look like us, as long as they think like us.

O.K., that's a little harsh. But consider George Yancey, a sociologist who is black and evangelical. "Outside of academia I faced more problems as a black," he told me. "But inside academia I face more problems as a Christian, and it is not even close."

I've been thinking about this because on Facebook recently I wondered aloud whether universities stigmatize conservatives and undermine intellectual diversity. The scornful reaction from my fellow liberals proved the point.

"Much of the 'conservative' worldview consists of ideas that are known empirically to be false," said Carmi. "The truth has a liberal slant," wrote Michelle. "Why stop there?" asked Steven. "How about we make faculties more diverse by hiring idiots?"

To me, the conversation illuminated primarily liberal arrogance — the implication that conservatives don't have anything significant to add to the discussion. My Facebook followers have incredible compassion for war victims in South Sudan, for kids who have been trafficked, even for abused chickens, but no obvious empathy for conservative scholars facing discrimination.

The stakes involve not just fairness to conservatives or evangelical Christians, not just whether progressives will be true to their own values, not just the benefits that come from diversity (and diversity of thought is arguably among the most important kinds), but also the quality of education itself. When perspectives are unrepresented in discussions, when some kinds of thinkers aren't at the table, classrooms become echo chambers rather than sounding boards — and we all lose.


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  • (Score: 2) by ilPapa on Monday August 29 2016, @04:18PM

    by ilPapa (2366) on Monday August 29 2016, @04:18PM (#394788) Journal

    So do you have a rigorous definition of what makes a denomination evangelical?

    Let's see...

    according to Google...

    I thought you said, "rigorous".

    But no, there is no "rigorous definition" of an evangelical. In parlance, however, since the late 1970s, it has come to mean the "Religious Right". A prominent Christian polling firm, Barna Group, has traditionally used a very specific nine-question definition that requires, for example, the person to claim they believe Satan exists.

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  • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday August 29 2016, @04:22PM

    by tangomargarine (667) on Monday August 29 2016, @04:22PM (#394791)

    Yes, I was saying I had an ad hoc definition and asking did you have a better one.

    Link to this 9-question definition?

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    "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @05:14PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 29 2016, @05:14PM (#394818)

      Its funny, he plagiarzed that line [google.com] so he doesn't have a link for you.
      I plagiarize stuff all the time because good writing is good writing and as an AC I can't claim credit for anything anyway.
      Still its funny.

    • (Score: 2) by ilPapa on Tuesday August 30 2016, @02:04AM

      by ilPapa (2366) on Tuesday August 30 2016, @02:04AM (#395065) Journal

      The Barna Group website doesn't list the actual 9 questions, but they do list these 9 criteria:

      Evangelicals met nine specific theological criteria. They said they have made “a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today,” that their faith is very important in their life today; believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior; strongly believe they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians; firmly believe that Satan exists; strongly believe that eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works; strong agree that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; strong assert that the Bible is accurate in all the principles it teaches; and describe God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today. Being classified as an evangelical is not dependent on self-identification, church attendance, or the denominational affiliation of the church attended. Respondents were not asked to describe themselves as “evangelical.”

      Now here's where it gets interesting:

      Non-evangelical born again Christians say they have made “a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today” and believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. However, they do not accept all of the other seven theological beliefs that categorize someone as an evangelical.

      Notional Christians are people who consider themselves to be Christian but they have not made “a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today” or believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior.

      So, you can be a Christian and believe 0 out of 9 of the criteria that make you an Evangelical. I find that interesting.

      Oh, and the other important qualifier: You can't be a Catholic. Catholics can never be considered Evangelical Christians, because reasons.

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