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Carson Byrd - Senior
3/10/2005, 10:38:10 a.m.
There is the concern that the Open Doors organization will turn away donors and the financing of the college will drop to deathly numbers. This is absolutely false. A group such as Open Doors broadens the education of everyone on the campus and allows Mars Hill to live up to its name as a liberal arts college.
Let me give you an example of a liberal arts college that has an organization like the one on our campus. No, let me give you the name of an institution that has a branch of student life devoted to the needs of homosexuals and discriminated-against humans, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I don't see their finances dropping. Oh, you know, you're right...they are a state funded school. Nothing like us, so let me find a better example.
There is an institution in Cambridge, Mass. that goes by the name of Harvard. How are they like us? They are a liberal arts, private, Christian-based, conservative-majority institution that has an Open Doors-like organization supported by the college. Harvard receives enough donations in one year to finance all of the institutions in the South Atlantic Conference, and then some! Harvard was once like Mars Hill before the boom of college education in the late 1800's and early 1900's. They're not hurting in the financing or community sector. Pick up the book The Crimson Letter: Harvard, Homesexuality, and the Shaping of American Culture authored by Douglass Shand-Tucci and published in 2003. It's a good historical read on the college, American culture, and homosexuality in the institution of higher education.
If you wish to use Mars Hill's mission statement against this organization that is against all kinds of bigotry, prejudice and discrimination, I would advise you to not try that road. Here is the mission statement of our institution with the religion idenity statement attached for reasons why each part of the statement was approved:
Mars Hill College, an academic community rooted in the Christian faith. . .
Paul stood up in the midst of Mars Hill and said:“People of Athens, I see that you are very religious.”—Acts 17:22
Mars Hill College is a place where faith and reason meet, where students, faculty and staff explore questions of faith reasonably in the spirit of Christ-like compassion and respect. While Mars Hill is not a church, our roots are Christian and our heritage is Baptist. We encourage students, faculty, staff, administrators, trustees and alumni in their practice and expression of faith. We honor the variety of denominations, faith traditions, worship practices, theological persuasions and spiritual disciplines represented among our constituencies. By experiencing this diversity in community, we learn from each other and find our own spiritual journeys enriched.
challenges and equips students to pursue intellectual, spiritual, and personal growth. . .
“The most important [commandment],” answered Jesus, “is this: . . . Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” —Mark 12:28-30
At Mars Hill, we see that developing knowledge, values, and skills are integral ways of loving God and following what Jesus called the greatest commandment. Pursuing intellectual growth—developing knowledge—is critical to loving God with all your mind. Pursuing spiritual growth—deepening values—is critical to loving God with all your heart and soul. And pursuing personal growth—strengthening skills for life and work—is critical to loving God with all your strength.
through an education that is grounded in a rigorous study of the liberal arts. . .
You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. —John 8:32
“Liberal arts” comes from a Latin phrase meaning the arts suitable and necessary for free people to govern themselves. The liberal arts at Mars Hill are rooted in freedom—freedom to explore critical questions of life from different perspectives in the pursuit of truth. Our Baptist heritage strongly emphasizes religious liberty, expressed as the freedom and autonomy of persons and churches in a free state. This heritage nurtures our practice of academic freedom. We recognize that any form of coercive dogmatism claiming to have the only correct version of truth, imposing that view on others, and restricting freedom of inquiry is incompatible with the way we experience the liberal arts and Christian higher education at Mars Hill.
connected to the world of work. . .
I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. —Ephesians 4:1
The idea of vocation, or calling, is central to Mars Hill’s mission. God gifts people with a wide variety of abilities and interests and calls them to employ their gifts across the spectrum of professions: ministry, law, medicine, education, business, social work, et al. We want our graduates to find worthwhile work and distinguish themselves in every field by doing good [ethical work—making a life] and doing well [successful work—making a living].
and committed to character development, to service,
and to responsible citizenship in the community, the region, and the world.
There are different kinds of service. . . [and] varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. —I Corinthians 12:5-6
At Mars Hill, we balance the freedom inherent in a liberal arts education with responsibility. We challenge our students to become “response-able,” prepared to respond to the difficult challenges of the 21st century with core commitments and activities that serve the common good. We want our graduates to value civic engagement, to be the kind of people who live out their faith commitments in every arena and spend their lives making a positive difference in their homes, in their workplaces, in their communities, and in their world.
If you would, please take note of the reasoning established under the scripture taken from John 8:32. There is a section that states, "We recognize that any form of coercive dogmatism claiming to have the only correct version of truth, imposing that view on others, and restricting freedom of inquiry is incompatible with the way we experience the liberal arts and Christian higher education at Mars Hill."
So please do not try to hide behind the beliefs of this institution and its mission statement.
Also, I would take warning from Mr. Bost when it comes to the media attention. To whom it may concern, drawing the media here for negative attention towards the Open Doors organization will actually let in other organizations that have been established to bring pressure to this institution and its decisions. It's happened numerous times. If you think it was weird having Mars Hill on the CNN ticker last Spring, just imagine the college being over-run by the news crews and vans.
Our institution is at a cultural crosswalk. Do we walk across the road to more institutional diversity or do we stay where we are and let other institutions pass us bye?
My opinions are all my own. I do not want to force anyone to believe what I write. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and should trust that Mars Hill College will live up to what is was founded on and the mission statement it with-holds.
Just my .02 on the issue. Have a good day!
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