A smorgasbord of "indoctrination, civil discourse, and cultural relativism"

I realize this post is all over the board on different topics that have been zipping through my mind over the last couple of days... but but they were based on a single conversation with my boss so, here goes:

So let me set the stage... I am in my office and my boss comes in and sees Sean Hannity's "Let Freedom Ring" book on my desk and starts giving me a hard time. And of course he asks “if I am indoctrinating my kids with this stuff...” My response is, "Don, the only thing I have indoctrinated into my kids is my love for the Green Bay Packers." He laughs. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he is liberal and I am conservative... but then, he sees a book by Eric Alterman (who is an extreme leftist) titled "What Liberal Media?" and then somehow, suddenly, I am now "okay" in his eyes. Which my response to him is this... Don, don’t we work at a university? Is not a university setting a place where an exchange of ideas should take place so people can critically think about ideas that are foreign to them and gain knowledge through understanding all of the angles? Or is it a place where we try to indoctrinate people by presenting one side as truth so that the person is kept in the dark about certain perspectives? Personally, I think it is important to read material and watch shows and be exposed to ideologies that go against our beliefs so we give ourselves an opportunity to decide for ourselves what we truly believe. How do you know if what you believe is true if you don’t provide yourself with an opportunity to understand all of the options that are out there?

Working in a liberal university setting, I struggle with the fact that, if you have Christian beliefs and ideologies, they are immediately invalidated as ludicrous or antiquated and somehow they shouldn’t be discussed or that you lack intelligence because you have these beliefs. We live in a society of cultural relativism. Where there are no absolutes and it is offensive for a person to tell others that what they believe is wrong. The majority has a problem with Christianity because our faith is based on absolutes... according to my faith, there is right and wrong. But nobody wants to be told that they are wrong. As I was speaking with Don, our conversation on the university setting and exchange of ideas led to a discussion on the topic of homosexuality... (I have no idea how we went down this path... but it happened.) At some point in the conversation I responded with a comment that I don’t believe it is morally right. To which his response was, “well what if the person doesn’t have a choice... what if it was how they way they were born? What if they had been struggling with homosexuality all their life and suddenly they decided to quit fighting it and have decided come to the resolve that they are gay? Are you telling me this person is wrong?” My response was lengthy, but I expressed my thoughts the following way:

“I'm not sure I agree with your thoughts that they were born this way. I don’t believe that science has found evidence that people are missing a chromosome or that somehow scientists have found that the structure of DNA in a homosexual is different of that of a heterosexual... but for discussion sake, let’s say that that they were born that way. For example, from a biblical perspective, God made guys very visual sexually. So, generally speaking, we are easily tempted by the sight of a naked woman. Essentially, we were made that way according to God’s design... we were born that way. I still don't believe that this would give us the justification to give into those thoughts and desires and sleep with as many women as we want. I would suggest that, we all have different things we are tempted by... we all have our own vices... as the bible puts it, “thorns in the flesh.” I believe that homosexuality is a sin that people are tempted with... While I don’t presume to understand why the Lord allows some to struggle with the temptation of homosexuality, I don’t believe it is okay to give into these temptations either."

Don just walked away shaking his head... probably having a hard time fathoming how people could still believe the way I do.

Further thoughts on the subject:

Just because I don’t believe that it is morally right to live this lifestyle, I don’t believe that it is my place to go out and beat my beliefs into or hate people who chose this lifestyle. For that matter, we have all made wrong choices at times and I am in no position to judge someone's actions. In the same breathe, I have a right to state my beliefs and if that is offensive, well I am sorry... that is definitely not my intent... Just because my beliefs are telling you that I believe that this lifestyle is wrong does not somehow make me a bigot or uncaring... Now we could get into a debate on the definition of the word "judge" but I don't believe that telling someone that they are wrong is judgemental. My position is one of tolerance, but not acceptance. I can be friends and love a person that is struggling with this sinful lifestyle... but I can not embrace or condone their choice. I can agree to disagree and still care about a person.


Coming full circle with this thought process... it is a struggle to work in the environment that I do and, for Christians, it is a struggle to live in the world that we do because all ideas and beliefs are deemed okay except those that are based on biblical principles. My perspective is that, no matter what society chooses to believe, there are still absolutes. Everything isn’t all relative. Just because societal norms shift in a certain direction, doesn’t mean they are right. There is truth and there are absolutes... regardless of what one chooses to believe.

Anyway... talk amongst yourselves.