With the growing intolerance within the university
community, viewpoint diversity will soon become no more than a mere legend.
LifeSiteNews.com reports that:
- The national agency which grants accreditation to social work courses is questioning Franciscan University of Steubenville over a course which lists homosexuality as a deviant behavior. Attention was drawn to the course by a group of Franciscan University alumni, identifying themselves as “Franciscan Gay Alumni & Allies”, who are demanding publicly that the university “revise its course descriptions and to stop contributing the culture of hate and ignorance.”
- The course is called ‘Deviant Behavior’ and the part of the course description in question states, “The behaviors that are primarily examined are murder, rape, robbery, prostitution, homosexuality, mental illness, and drug use.”
- In the press release issued by “Franciscan Gay Alumni & Allies” [FGAA] and published by the Daily Kos, further accusations and demands are made, based solely on the ‘Deviant Behavior’ course description. Among them are the group’s accusation that students are “being taught ideological falsehoods in the classroom,” and that the classification of homosexuality as a deviant behavior “feed(s) cultural biases and promote hatred for lesbian and gay individuals.”
Interestingly, FGAA hasn’t accused the university of “hate”
regarding its designation of “murder, rape, robbery, prostitution…mental
illness, and drug use” as deviant. According to FGAA’s logic, the murderer and
rapist should also protest their
designation as “deviant.” After all, wouldn’t this designation also promote
hate against them as well as against the mentally and the drug user? Indeed,
according to this logic, no one should be considered deviant, and all behaviors
should be equally acceptable – robbing, killing…
Of course, this logic represents the height of absurdity. It
wouldn’t even be worth mentioning had it not already co-opted the very institutions
that are supposed to be our watch-dogs against this madness.
- [FGAA] goes on to make a broad demand that the university “revise its course descriptions,” “stop contributing the culture of hate and ignorance,” and “conduct an audit of its entire curriculum and remove any information being taught on this subject that is outdated and not substantiated by sound scientific fact.”
Who is actually “contributing [to] the culture of hate and
ignorance?” It is the FGAA and many other groups like it that have used threats
and intimidation to silence any other viewpoint.
Who are the real agents of “ignorance?” Sadly, our secular
gate-keepers have fallen in line behind this agenda, silencing any voices that
fail to goose-step behind this militaristic agenda. Although they tout the idea
of diversity, viewpoint discrimination is broadly enforced. Although our
secular authorities have committed themselves to anti-bullying programs, this
only pertains to certain protected groups. Others are consistently bullied into
submission by a monolithic, suppressive secular agenda.
While FGAA glibly claims “sound scientific fact” as their
ally, the thrust of their agenda stifles research and silences any open
exchange of scientific findings. This agenda caused University of Texas
researcher, Dr. Mark Regnerus, to become the object of an intimidating ethics
investigation, because of his politically incorrect findings:
- Dr. Mark Regnerus leads a team of researchers on another peer-reviewed homosexual “parenting” study labeled: “How different are the adult children of parents who have same-sex relationships? Findings from the New Family Structures Study.”
- The study was published in the journal Social Science Research. Its website FAQ page summarizes the findings: “[T]he data show rather clearly that children raised by gay or lesbian parents on average are at a significant disadvantage when compared to children raised by the intact family of their married, biological mother and father.”
- Focus on the Family’s Citizenlink distills the research: “According to [Regnerus’] findings, children raised by homosexual parents are more likely than those raised by married heterosexual parents to suffer from poor impulse control, depression and suicidal thoughts, require mental health therapy; identify themselves as homosexual; choose cohabitation; be unfaithful to partners; contract sexually transmitted diseases; be sexually molested; have lower income levels; drink to get drunk; and smoke tobacco and marijuana.”
Fortunately, Regnerus was cleared of any wrongdoing.
However, the prospect of this threat has kept other fair-minded researchers
away from politically sensitive research.
Diversity requires thick skin. It demands a willingness to
tolerate contrary opinions, even when we feel offended by them. It values free
speech and freedom of belief as the foundations of a free and open society,
which benefits all. It recognizes that, in order for us all to live together
under one roof, we cannot impose our
beliefs upon others, especially not by intimidation. It also means that we have
to love one another – the murderer, the rapist, and even those whose practices
we might regard as deviant.
Our Bible teaches us to speak the truth in love, and so we
must lead the way. And a little prayer wouldn’t hurt.
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