I can hardly believe that the new year is upon us and a month has already passed. So much has changed for me in the last year I can hardly believe it. God has really changed things around for me and I am excited to see what he has for me and my new wife this coming year.
Today is the beginning of the third week of my last semester at St Cloud State. This semester is again chuck full of political science classes. I find myself challenged every day in class, ideologically and intellectually. Today was no exception. The debate on separation of church and state is still one of the more compelling and passionate topics for many people. I gained some insight today about how people deal with this topic. I believe it is all about comfort. Many of the teachings of Jesus make people uncomfortable. There has been a stigma attached to Christianity that resonates throughout the secular world. I feel it every day in class. This may be obvious to some people but let me give an example of what I mean. One of my classes is Public administration policy. In class today, for some reason the professor had a Buddhist intellectual guest speaker talk to us about positive energy and basic Buddhist beliefs. It would have been equivalent to a pastor coming into class and giving a lecture on the love of Christ and the basics of Christian beliefs. Of course a counter argument would be that this form of Buddhism uses a combination of scientific research and human energy so it is not entirely theoretical. During the presentation everyone in class listened silently, with no comments or interjections. The main contributer was the professor asking questions with obvious interest and support.
Let us reverse this scenario; I gain approval to bring someone in to teach about Jesus, how would that same class respond to this speaker? Would they be as accommodating? How would the professor respond to him/her and if the professor responded negatively would that then effect students view of the presentation? At state schools it is obvious that the separation of church and state is highly supported. At state schools, they claim to have higher standards of acceptance of all world views. At state schools, they would say that all opinions are represented equally. They have achieved non of this. What they have achieved is the objectives of biased professors. There is no better example of this than the political science department. One would possibly say "well your asking for it with that major." Shouldn't I get the best dose of unilateral unbiased, information at this all accepting state school? You would think but it is far from reality. Some of what these professors are allowed to teach is nothing short of indoctrination. The speaker brought to class today had nothing to do with public policy, it was a product of the professors own personal interests. I would have no problem with it if she would be open to a speaker of opposite teaching. (which I know she would not be)
This is a problem of unprecedented levels. If our society strives to produce this humanistic, Godless secularism in our government to limit the exposure to biased political and religious views, than why at the state school level, is the exact opposite being achieved? This question will not be answered anytime soon.
For me I want my Government to represent the most important things I believe in. As long as it is still labeled as a representative government, I believe this is achievable; So is it representative for me to feel like a foreigner in one of my State schools? To feel like my views elicit negative responses everywhere I go? To feel like a professor holds the keys to my success and could grade me unfavorably because of my views? Perhaps these are all valid questions or perhaps I am just in a bad mood. ;) Hopefully my next entry will be filled with more uplifting thoughts.
