It’s disappointing to see that every single Christian college I was pointed towards at a teen now has had some major sandal regarding SA or mistreatment of abuse. These were the colleges that I was suppose to be safe at. The “secular” colleges were suppose to be the scary ones.
I was pushed away from any “secular” college due to safety concerns, or concerns around non-religious college culture negative affecting my beliefs. I remember my mother strongly reminding me that it would be hard to be a Christian at a university where everyone hated god. The image that was painted for me was a bit like God’s Not Dead (for those that have had to suffer through that movie). Where you, as a Christian, are pitted against evil worldly teachers.
Bob Jones, PCC, Liberty University, and Cedarville all have showed that they do not care about the culture of abuse and sexual assault in their colleges.
They “stand strong” for their beliefs. All the while neglecting the care of their students. They have clearly sided against the marginalized, against the victims of SA, and protected the abusers in their midst.
It’s angering to see the lack of care for students in the very places that are supposed to be the most compassionate towards their students. These universities all have strong doctrinal stances (this is what initially drew my parents to these colleges) but their belief has strongly eclipsed the compassion they may have for their students.
All the links in this post (other than the link regarding John MacArthur) are about colleges I visited or considered. All where sold to me as being 100% safe and a good Christian colleges with a friendly atmosphere.
Within the fundamentalist homeschool circles I grew up in I’ve seen very very people calling out the neglect of these institutions. SA as a whole is often dismissed as “probably didn’t happen” and leaders that enables the abuse are often given a free pass.
See for example John MacArthur and how most people have handled that situation. This is the DM I received after bringing up John MacArthur’s to a local church and how his church has handled marital abuse and SA. The local church had reposted John MacArthur’s content and I wanted to bring up the church’s harmful teachings and behavior.
I’ve heard this response several times in regards to abusive leaders. “They are a good leader and have excellent doctrine, and yes maybe they aren’t perfect. But we will continue to support them because they help uphold our beliefs and doctrines.”
I want to close by saying that Christian colleges and institutions need to listen to victims of sexual assault, and need to create a culture where victims of SA can freely come forwards without fear of judgement from college staff or students. They need to prioritize student safety and show the Christian attributes of compassion and love that they claim to hold. And they need to hold abusive leaders accountable for their actions.
Freedom From Fundamentalism 