Diversity in the University and True Love Revolution

In the days of pluralism, relativism, and when tolerance is the buzz-word (except when this applies to the exclusive claims of Christianity), our nation’s universities are brimming with programs, classes, and organizations which appear to offer a new found freedom. As many have discovered, however, this “freedom” only leads to greater slavery and should be abolished altogether. Sadly, this enslavement is much more sexy to my generation’s eye as a result of the boomers that have gone before us, and our perception of sexuality has so far skewed from the gift which God intended.

I recall a time in my life when I was engaged in an auditorium full of future doctors, attorneys, soccer moms, pharmaceutical reps, restaurant owners, journalists, tax agents, politicians, educators, administrators, alcoholics, drug addicts, and felons. Granted, I could not then, nor can I now, determine who has amounted to which category but the reality exists that in a crowd this large (600+) statistically, there are bound to at least be one of each. Also, I did not know at that time that I would one day pursue a calling into vocational ministry. Having had to make the prediction that day, I would have surmised that I would have been a journalist turned drug-addicted felon. Thank You Father, for Your life-changing grace.

This meeting was not a professional meeting of young entrepreneurs, nor was this a gathering of desiring community leaders hoping to rally around an issue. It was a rally of sorts, and it was held in a packed auditorium of Winthrop University (my first college campus), but there was only one mindset that was acceptable in this seemingly tolerant society and it manifested itself in this chant: “Diversity in the University.” Led by a charismatic, engaging, and infectious Director of Student Affairs, she had the crowd on their feet on more than one occasion. I recall like it was yesterday (9 years later), “What we need is Diversity in the University. Diversity in the University. Diversity in the University. Say it with me: ‘Diversity in the University. Diversity in the University. Diversity in the Uni…” give me a break. This mantra was repeated over and over to the point that the brainwashing method employed by David Koresh, Jim Jones or the like would have seemed like a Tuesday morning knitting club at the senior citizens center.

She stressed the need for tolerance when it came to religions “Whether you’re a Christian…or a Jew…or Muslim…or Catholic…or Hindu…or Buddhist…or Ba’hai…or Atheist…we need Diversity in the University. Say it with me now, Diversity in the University. Whatever your sexual preference or orientation may be, straight, gay, bi…we need Diversity in the University. Diversity in the University.” And the mantra continued and continued and continued in drone after drone after drone to the point that I hear the words murmuring in my cranium nine years postpartum. In a sense, in order to truly be an American college student in the then twentieth century and the soon coming twenty-first who has been reborn from the ways of the old world, it was required that you be tolerant of everything - except intolerance, of course. This is the greatest oxymoron of the secular society and the space does not permit to entertain this soap box. Suffice it to say, this is a preposterousness that reeks of double talk to at minimum. Tomfoolery in barest degree.

Well, Harvard University, another institute of higher education, the highest pedigree in many opinions, has attempted to be the cosmopolitan ivy from which all others descend has made headlines once again. This time, however, it has not been as a result of their risqué outlook on sexuality, diversification, or tolerance. This time, it comes as a result of the student group, True Love Revolution, who have the audacity to proclaim to the student body that their bodies are not for all students. Clearer, abstinence is indeed a healthy lifestyle choice.

True Love Revolution is a secular organization that does not have any ties to a religious affiliation or denomination and is therefore acceptable on the college’s campus. In the AP article released Thursday, Jesse Alderman writes,

“True Love Revolution members say the problem starts with the university. They say Harvard has implicitly led students to believe that having sex at college is a foregone conclusion by requiring incoming freshman to attend a seminar on date-rape that does not mention abstinence, by placing condoms in freshmen dorms, and by hosting racy lecturers. (Harvard students have also launched H-Bomb, a magazine featuring racy photos of undergraduates.)”

Alderman also shares a telling quote from a campus feminist who was offended by receiving a valentine indicating that abstinence may be the way to go:

”Harvard student Rebecca Singh said she was offended by a valentine the group sent to the dormitory mailboxes of all freshmen. It read: "Why wait? Because you're worth it."
"I think they thought that we might not be `ruined' yet," Singh said. "It's a symptom of that culture we have that values a woman on her purity. It's a relic."

Imagine that. A culture that “values a woman on her purity”! Singh is correct in that increasingly, the idea that a woman committed to purity is a relic, a thing of the past. However, the battle is not lost and the war against sexual impurity and in support of marital integrity continues to rage. I commend this group for having the courage to walk a life of purity; I only wish that they would recognize that our goal in purity is to glorify God who has bought our bodies with a price. Behind the lines, this group may be populated by many Christians, but since the article does not indicate, I may only conjecture. However, this is a start and it may just be that there is a group of individuals who are being stirred by the Spirit of God to seek a life greater than the temporal earthly, existence. We can only pray that the gospel would indeed penetrate the kudzu of plurality found in the Ivy Leagues and beyond.

For the complete article click here.

For a couple of young men who are seeking to change an entire generation, click here and join The Rebelution.