Comment by jonknee | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jonknee | Hacker News Reader

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> Really? Citation please; I simply don't believe this. Most Christian universities that I have any knowledge of invite (or at least aren't averse to it) tough discussion, and allow for a pretty wide range of critical thought about interpretations of the Bible, how Christianity should relate to politics, culture, science, and many other subjects.

You have missed out on the wave of evangelical schools that market to parents as babysitters. Here are some quotes from the OKWU student handbook:

http://www.okwu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/2013-2014-Stu...

> Students should understand that all traffic on the Internet on campus is capable of being viewed, monitored, and logged by OKWU

View porn and you can be expelled. Might not want to search for birth control either.

> Possession or use of alcohol on or off campus, contributing to the use of alcohol by other OKWU students, and/or being present in an environment where alcohol is being consumed is prohibited. Use, possession, purchasing, etc. of tobacco is prohibited.

Note the on or OFF campus bit. This is where the evangelical babysitting really kicks in.

> By virtue of their voluntary enrollment, all students, regardless of age, residency, or status agree to engage in sexual behavior exclusively within the context of marital heterosexual monogamy.

> Gambling, pornography, immodesty, profanity, crude, vulgar, or offensive language, and disrespectful behavior, such as gossip, dishonesty, and malice are also viewed as inappropriate behavior for all students. The University supports the stance of The Wesleyan Church on the issue of dancing.

So, this has everything to do with you not liking how this school runs itself, and not a thing to do with the claim "If you say anything negative about the religion or its teachings, you are kicked out," and not a thing to do with "safe spaces".

You can be expelled for dancing, they're not having legitimate discussions about religion.

All universities (and for that matter, employers) have a code of conduct or ethics that defines standards of behavior and expectations. How is that babysitting?

The term 'babysitting' as defined in the article it somewhat nebulous, but seems to at least include policing speech to avoid offending others.

However, the school's official rules tell students they should not engage in, "profanity, crude, vulgar, or offensive language, and disrespectful behavior [including] gossip, dishonesty, and malice." The school has a right to define behavior requirements for the student body (all of whom are adults who can choose to attend or not). However, if they are going to post an attack on a student who wishes to expand the speech restrictions on campus, it seems reasonable for them to explain why the student's ideas about restricting speech are bad and their ideas are good.

In a more general sense - most people agree there should be some limits on speech (fire in a theatre, etc). However, when someone suggests a limit on speech they don't like the reaction is like the one in the article: shocked disbelief that someone would want to restrict speech! I don't have strong feelings about "safe spaces" and the like, but I don't think the idea is that strange or hard to understand and that people should at least talk about it within our never-ending discussion about how we want to live with each other.

This one tells you how to dress (modestly), and not to dance, and not to go to the cinema, and not to smoke tobacco, and not to drink alcohol (even if you're off campus).

A christian extremist complains about a student who had complained about a sermon, and says that viewpoints need to be challenged. It's useful to see if that extremist is a massive hypocrite or not. In this case it seems he is.

For starters it deals with banning legal off campus behavior.

>The University supports the stance of The Wesleyan Church on the issue of dancing.

No dancing guys and gals, it encourages the encroachment of evil upon the home.

You wouldn't joke about it if you saw my dancing.

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