Front page for Central Bible College: Gay rights group plans visit to CBC

by Matt | March 11th, 2007 |

Wow… we haven’t even done anything yet here in Springfield, Missouri or at Central Bible College and we have already made the front page news in Springfield’s News-Leader:

Gay-rights group plans Monday visit to CBC
But the college won’t allow them onto school grounds, citing group’s methods.

Linda Leicht
News-Leader

About 30 Soulforce Equality riders will arrive Monday at Central Bible College hoping to have a “conversation” about the school’s position on homosexuality.
They will more than likely be arrested, said one of the group’s leaders.

“They’re so fearful of the issue of homosexuality that even one of us coming on the campus … for a respectful dialogue” is unacceptable, said Curtis Peterson, 22, of New York.

Ron Bradley, campus pastor, said the Assemblies of God Bible college is not taking an “antagonistic posture” toward the group, but they are not welcome on campus.

“We have no difficulty discussing this issue (of homosexuality),” said Bradley. Instead, it is the organization and its method that led to the decision, he said. “Their track record has been ignoble at best.”

Civil disobedience

Soulforce is an organization started by the Rev. Mel White, who worked for evangelical Christians — including the Rev. Jerry Fallwell — before coming out as a gay man. Its mission: “… Freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from religious and political oppression through the practice of relentless nonviolent resistance.”

The first Soulforce Equality Ride was held in 2005. This year, the ride includes two buses, with about 30 riders on each, that will visit 32 schools around the country, including Baylor University, Bob Jones University, Brigham Young University and Central Bible College. The schools were selected because they are perceived as having policies that are homophobic.

Bradley rejects that description of CBC. Homosexual activity, along with behavior such as drunkenness, adultery or theft — “any sort of behavior that is not Scripturally endorsed” — is subject to disciplinary action, he said.

But discussion of issues of sexuality is not off-limits at the school, Bradley said. “You have to,” he said. “That’s part of life.”

The school does not want the Soulforce riders to lead that conversation, however.

“Our concern, having studied their patterns,” said Bradley, “is while their initial contact calls for dialogue, their pattern has been much more combative and on some campuses, deceptive.”

A written statement by Jim Vigil, vice president for student development, made it clear. “Central Bible College does not intend to allow these individuals to come onto our campus and offer the legitimacy of any kind of official forum.”

The group is accustomed to that sort of response, so its members plan to stand in front of the school, just off campus property, to invite students to talk.

Some will step onto campus, said Peterson, who has twice been arrested for trespassing during Soulforce activities. He explained that the action is “civil disobedience” as used during the civil rights movement.

Peterson, a gay man and the son of a Baptist preacher, has been in contact with Springfield police and is aware that they have been called by the college to keep the riders from coming onto college property.

“We go out of our way to be in contact with the police,” he said. “We are not violent, and we always submit to arrest.”

Spiritual growth

Not every college has refused to admit the Soulforce riders. Last week, the group visited the campus of Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, for what one pastor described as “the biggest day of spiritual growth that campus went through all year.”

Although the school, affiliated with the Christian Reformed Church, originally declined to have the group on campus, when administrators realized that the visit would take place regardless, they decided to welcome the riders.

“We made the choice that it would be a more effective Christian witness to interact with them on campus,” said Ken Boersma, vice president of student services.

The college provided faculty, staff and students who served as hosts for each individual rider as they accompanied them on campus for a day of planned activities.

“We decided to share our Christian commitment in a way of being gracious to them,” Boersma said.

The school presented its own position — that sexual activity outside of marriage, including sex with someone of the same gender, is grounds for dismissal — during a panel discussion attended by students and invited guests.

The Rev. Aaron Baart, who pastors a church in the community, was among the panelists representing the school’s position. He said he expected anger and deep emotion but discovered that the students, faculty and the Soulforce riders were all “very respectful.”

Following the campus activities, Baart invited the students and riders to continue the dialogue. “It is a reality in our culture,” he said. “They have to learn how to dialogue on it in a constructive and respectful manner.”

Baart was pleased with the university’s response. “I think Dordt did a great job,” he said.

Not everybody in the community was as welcoming. Three men in pickup trucks harassed the group at their hotel and defaced their bus by writing insults and obscenities.

But that, too, offered the school an opportunity for Christian witness, Boersma said. In addition to the college issuing a public apology on behalf of the community, Dordt students washed the bus.

Today we are going to go to worship with a local Unitarian-Universalist congregation and then have lunch with them. We’ll return to have a candle-light service tonight with the congregation as well.

Tomorrow (Monday) is when we will attempt to visit CBC for open and honest dialogue. Hopefully the school will be moved by the voice of God and change their minds. Hopefully.

Technorati Tags: Soulforce, Equality Ride, Springfield, Missouri, Central Bible College, Assemblies of God

Posted in Soulforce/Equality Ride |