A Letter to Frank Schaeffer from one of our EOC Priests

[Ann_of_Love]

I actually had a mom tell me, I kid you not, at a parent teacher conference a week ago, that all teachers in my school district SHOULD HAVE TO BE Republicans since the valley is conservative-dominated. She said that all kids should be influenced by "good" conservative teachers, not "brain-washing liberal democrats." Being the professional that I am, I quickly changed that subject! Absurd...She said, "I can't get over how some teachers around here teach global warming and evolution and all this garbage! I moved here to the valley last year specifically so my kids would have Republican teachers!"

My cousins went/go to (depending on which you're talking about,) a tiny Christian school. At their graduation, the teacher stood there and told them all about how their college professors and classmates would not be Christian, and that they would have to cling to the Gospel and discern lies. The graduation was in this weird little church (...the pews had these comfy pads attached to them that made them look like couches.) I wanted to throw the hymnals at said teacher. I was livid.

 

[Joshua G.]

I think that it is important for kids who have always been educated by Christians to know that in public universities you will come across many professors who are not Christians and actually teach quite anti-Christian values and beliefs.

While most of my professors didn't say much to purposely try to challenge my faith (specficially conservative Christian faith, not just faith in general) many did over my years at college. The University really is a community unto itself. Many of the professors work long hours and when they do go out they hang out with their colleagues like any normal person does. The problem is that many of them rarely get some fresh air outside of academia and just talk with normal folk and understand how normal people perceive the world.

There are so many stories I could tell that reflect that fact that liberal notions are given (taken as fact) in that atmosphere and that it is done with a very haughty attitude. While many professors do work hard to be professionals and keep their politics out of teaching to the best of their ability (which means they are able to distinguish fact from personal perspective), in fact, most in my experience did this, many did not. Some stories that come to mind is when a special ed professor told the class that anyone who thinks it is wrong to abort a child a doctor knows is going to have severe physical/cognitive issues is heartless and flatout wrong. Others are less memorable but carry on the general idea that it is bigotous to believe that gay marriage is wrong, that evolution is a theory, that all religion is, by fact, only in existence as a way for man to psychologically cope with death (had to know that for a test), etc.

So, while we can't act as if they are all out to get us, Universities (including religious ones) is where liberalism tends to rule and many professors where it on their sleeves adn come darn right near to ridiculing those students that don;t agree. They tend to be no more open-minded and no-less dogmatic in their beliefs than fundamentalist protestants.

 

[Ignatius21]

There are so many stories I could tell that reflect that fact that liberal notions are given (taken as fact) in that atmosphere and that it is done with a very haughty attitude.

...

So, while we can't act as if they are all out to get us, Universities (including religious ones) is where liberalism tends to rule and many professors where it on their sleeves adn come darn right near to ridiculing those students that don;t agree. They tend to be no more open-minded and no-less dogmatic in their beliefs than fundamentalist protestants.

Actually, thinking back on some of the haughty attitude I've heard from Frank Schaeffer...which includes a heaping dose of ridicule toward those who disagree, at times mocking rather than actually engaging opposing arguments, reminds me tremendously of the liberal professors I've had in the past. Same thing. "Here's the truth, kid. Your parents are stupid, and if you don't swallow what I'm feeding you right now without question, then you're stupid too. I won't bother to prove that I'm right, because everyone else is so obviously stupid that they aren't worth the time it takes to show how stupid they are."

 

[MariaRegina]

I think that it is important for kids who have always been educated by Christians to know that in public universities you will come across many professors who are not Christians and actually teach quite anti-Christian values and beliefs.

While most of my professors didn't say much to purposely try to challenge my faith (specficially conservative Christian faith, not just faith in general) many did over my years at college. The University really is a community unto itself. Many of the professors work long hours and when they do go out they hang out with their colleagues like any normal person does. The problem is that many of them rarely get some fresh air outside of academia and just talk with normal folk and understand how normal people perceive the world.

There are so many stories I could tell that reflect that fact that liberal notions are given (taken as fact) in that atmosphere and that it is done with a very haughty attitude. While many professors do work hard to be professionals and keep their politics out of teaching to the best of their ability (which means they are able to distinguish fact from personal perspective), in fact, most in my experience did this, many did not. Some stories that come to mind is when a special ed professor told the class that anyone who thinks it is wrong to abort a child a doctor knows is going to have severe physical/cognitive issues is heartless and flatout wrong. Others are less memorable but carry on the general idea that it is bigotous to believe that gay marriage is wrong, that evolution is a theory, that all religion is, by fact, only in existence as a way for man to psychologically cope with death (had to know that for a test), etc.

So, while we can't act as if they are all out to get us, Universities (including religious ones) is where liberalism tends to rule and many professors where it on their sleeves adn come darn right near to ridiculing those students that don;t agree. They tend to be no more open-minded and no-less dogmatic in their beliefs than fundamentalist protestants.

Right on.

 

[rusmeister]

I think that it is important for kids who have always been educated by Christians to know that in public universities you will come across many professors who are not Christians and actually teach quite anti-Christian values and beliefs.

While most of my professors didn't say much to purposely try to challenge my faith (specficially conservative Christian faith, not just faith in general) many did over my years at college. The University really is a community unto itself. Many of the professors work long hours and when they do go out they hang out with their colleagues like any normal person does. The problem is that many of them rarely get some fresh air outside of academia and just talk with normal folk and understand how normal people perceive the world.

There are so many stories I could tell that reflect that fact that liberal notions are given (taken as fact) in that atmosphere and that it is done with a very haughty attitude. While many professors do work hard to be professionals and keep their politics out of teaching to the best of their ability (which means they are able to distinguish fact from personal perspective), in fact, most in my experience did this, many did not. Some stories that come to mind is when a special ed professor told the class that anyone who thinks it is wrong to abort a child a doctor knows is going to have severe physical/cognitive issues is heartless and flatout wrong. Others are less memorable but carry on the general idea that it is bigotous to believe that gay marriage is wrong, that evolution is a theory, that all religion is, by fact, only in existence as a way for man to psychologically cope with death (had to know that for a test), etc.

So, while we can't act as if they are all out to get us, Universities (including religious ones) is where liberalism tends to rule and many professors where it on their sleeves adn come darn right near to ridiculing those students that don;t agree. They tend to be no more open-minded and no-less dogmatic in their beliefs than fundamentalist protestants.

I think the explanation of all that can be found in Gatto's history of public schools - which led to the products now running the universities, and in CS Lewis's "The Abolition of Man", which Fr Tom Hopko recently plugged for on AFR.
I know Hopko, Lewis and Gatto are right. Lewis and Hopko didn't know exactly what was going on in public schools, but they are right on the philosophy and its effects, which Gatto didn't understand though he was right on what is going on in the schools and how they came to be that way. My own experience synthesized it so that I wasn't in the least surprised when Hopko came out urging people to read Lewis's book.

 

[Philothei]

Politics and religion...mixed into one...That is what Frankie is involved in. Well I am not surprised one bit.
I am not politically speaking but his religious liberalism is based on his political so there is an agenda. Then again he does not care he has an empire with the Regina press

 

[Ignatius21]

Politics and religion...mixed into one...That is what Frankie is involved in. Well I am not surprised one bit.
I am not politically speaking but his religious liberalism is based on his political so there is an agenda.

Right on. It seems that he is rejecting "politics mixed with religion" of the right-wing variety and replacing it with the equivalent left-wing version. What's always driven me nuts about the "religious right" is that they (and much of Evangelicalism with them) have become simply the conservative mirror-image of the left-wing "mainline" churches. The religious left throws out doctrine, largely denies essential tenets of the faith, and makes Christianity to be all about eliminating hunger and establishing social equality through political action. The religious right throws out doctrine, largely affirms essential tenets of the faith, but then makes them pretty much subservient to a larger agenda of stopping gay marriage through political action.

 

[rusmeister]

Right on. It seems that he is rejecting "politics mixed with religion" of the right-wing variety and replacing it with the equivalent left-wing version. What's always driven me nuts about the "religious right" is that they (and much of Evangelicalism with them) have become simply the conservative mirror-image of the left-wing "mainline" churches. The religious left throws out doctrine, largely denies essential tenets of the faith, and makes Christianity to be all about eliminating hunger and establishing social equality through political action. The religious right throws out doctrine, largely affirms essential tenets of the faith, but then makes them pretty much subservient to a larger agenda of stopping gay marriage through political action.

Hi, Ignatius,
I'm thinking about how to put it to you all...

Basically, I find such comments unconvincing because they use the language promoted in the mass media. That language assumes certain things to be true that I am now convinced are not true at all. "lefts" and "rights", "wings", "Republicans" and "Democrats", "gay marriage" and so on.

I'm trying to say that everything needs to be redefined in the light of things like truth and logic, and that we correctly define the forces that are out there, what power we the people actually have, is there democracy anywhere in the world or not, what is democracy... The answers to all those questions and all of the definitions are assumed - but are either unclearly defined or do not represent truth. Thus, all of our political discussions are based much more on ignorance than on genuine knowledge - I would call it "pseudo-knowledge".

The absolutely most useful work I have found that has helped me understand what exactly that truth is is GK Chesterton's "What's Wrong With the World". I would make it required reading for any modern person proposing to talk about politics at all.

Since it cannot be effectively summarized (and as Fr Tom Hopko pointed out, it would be a bad book if you really could):
What's Wrong with the World


I think Belloc's "The Free Press" required reading for the consideration of whether we really know anything at all via the media:
The Free Press from Project Gutenberg

To me now, all of the discussions which repeat the same language we hear all the time in the media have become boring, above all because they represent falsehood to a great extent (mixed with enough truth to keep them plausible).

 

[Joshua G.]

Politics and religion...mixed into one...That is what Frankie is involved in.

At the same time, I do think we need to check our politics by our faith. I think Frank and many many many like him never checked their politics by their faith and then what inevitably happens is that their politics guides their faith. It is impossible to keep them separate forever and not be a lunatic or simply inconsistant and confused.

 

[Dorothea]

As one of the priests that does podcasts on AFR said in one of his podcasts (paraphrasing) - "Does politics flow from your faith, or does your faith flow from your politics?"

 

[Philothei]

At the same time, I do think we need to check our politics by our faith. I think Frank and many many many like him never checked their politics by their faith and then what inevitably happens is that their politics guides their faith. It is impossible to keep them separate forever and not be a lunatic or simply inconsistant and confused.

If you allow the politics guide your faith... then you become IMHO a person that live in an illusion. Why? Cause none of the politicians promises even stand and even so they do there are other aspects of their "promises" or correct moral that they lack. In general one must be a unwise to think they will keep any moral standards... Pft. they just do whatever they can to get elected I see no true integrity in any of them for how can they anyhow since the party line has to be kept and "election votes" come first together with their "sponsors" the corporate world. And I talking about both party lines here