You’ll notice a new link in my sidebar called Please Reconcile. If you are an alumnus/alumna of Bob Jones University, I hope that you will study the Please Reconcile website prayerfully and with an open mind and get the word out by sending a link to all the alumni/alumnae that you keep in touch with. If BJU is not your alma mater, I hope that you will read about the issues and then pray that God would be glorified in this effort. I will be doing a series of posts on why the issues raised there are important and why there is a need for reconciliation. I will also tell my personal story here at Broken Silence–you won’t want to miss this because it’s something I never talk about.
Whether you know me personally or not (and I’m assuming that you might give me the benefit of the doubt if you are personally acquainted with me), I hope that you will avoid the knee-jerk reactions that have been a common response to this “movement” (for lack of a better term) since it first appeared as a Facebook group: first is an attempt to paint the petitioners with a broad brush using the terms “bitter” and “disgruntled”; second is to become a BJU apologist, toeing the party line in response to every issue and argument, without taking an honest look at the hard facts.
Tim and I are interracially married (he is Asian, I am Caucasian). We experienced the application end of the BJU interracial dating rules firsthand. But that is not why we are involved with Please Reconcile. While our personal story can certainly lend credibility to the idea that the University has indeed inflicted pain on people with their past policies, there is a far greater issue here. We believe that the Gospel suffers because of a lack of regret and repentance on the University’s part, a lack of clarity on their current ideological position, and a seeming desire to deflect discussion away from racism toward issues of religious freedom or institutional liberty.
There are some very thought-provoking essays posted at Please Reconcile. Again, I hope that you will prayerfully consider the information presented there. Then, when you’re well-read on the subject, join me back here at Broken Silence where Tim and I will attempt to put a personal face on this issue and tell you how God has brought us to believe that great good can be done for the cause of the Gospel with some simple words on the part of the University.
