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If it is Possible... (Romans 12:18)
It has been observed that against stupidity even
the gods contend in vain. Overlooking momentarily the heretical notion
that there may be more than one God, I think it would be fair to observe
that every thinking Christian knows the validity of the saying.
"Is there anything God can't do?" someone asks with an air of smug satisfaction
at having thrown out a fathomless challenge they are convinced we cannot
possibly meet. "Yes," we might reply. "God can't make a sensible enquiry
out of a stupid question, or a wise prescription from a foolish edict."
Political correctness is one of those things that seems to confound "the
gods", frustrate the wise and yet delight the domineering autocrats who
always feel they know best what is "fair" "right" correct" and "proper".
These are the sensitive souls who, assuming we are all as thin-skinned
as they are, insist that we mustn't say "slum" but use the phrase "inner
city". We can't say "blacklisted" for fear of offending ethnic minorities,
and we shouldn't call someone "dishonest" but rather say they are "ethically
disoriented" and, of course, we must be "inclusive" in all things for
fear anyone should feel discriminated against and left out.
It is this last point I want to address. Some will have noticed the press
release issued this week from Birmingham University's Christian Union
describing their being banned from using Student Union Guild rooms and
having their bank accounts frozen. Their offence is to be found in their
constitution, a scurrilous document by some accounts, that describes members
of its fellowship as "men and women" (the temerarious audacity of it)
when it should read "people". This oversight (or is it a conspiracy on
the part of the Christians?), this use of "exclusive" language marginalises
those who are transsexual/transgender "persons". They then have the unmitigated
temerity to insist that, although anyone is welcome to CU meetings, nevertheless
formal membership is open only to those who profess faith in Jesus Christ!
You would almost think they had some God-given right.
I have this picture in my mind of an army of transsexual/transgender "persons"
storming the Student Union offices brandishing banners carrying the legend,
"Give us Christian Union membership or we die!" An even larger crowd of
unbelievers waving placards bearing the slogan, "Non-Christians are Christians
too!" joins them. Pretty soon there is an SU revolution as societies,
special interest and self-help groups are told that university societies
must include everyone, interests cannot any longer be special, and self-help
is just an excuse for huddling in a corner and leaving others out.
The Mountaineering Society is deluged with applications from former members
of the vertigo self-help group. A crowd of enthusiastic orienteers overwhelms
the Agoraphobia self-help group. Pacifists prove enthusiastic, and at
the same time stoically passive, members of the War Games Society and
philophobes queue up to join the campus dating agency. There is a battle
of wits in the Philosophical Society between those students who aspire
to higher thought, thrilled by Wittgenstein, Goethe and Nietzsche, and
those who can't be asked so long as a good time is had by all ("Whatdya
mean, 'that isn't a philosphy?'). And the Literary Society adopts a new
motto, "Being illiterate doesn't make you a bad person."
Yes, the PC brigade are on the march, making sure that every view is included
- so long as it coincides with their own. How anyone might reasonably
expect to be included in the decision making of a group or society in
which they have no meaningful interest, indeed to which they may prove
temperamentally and actively opposed, is beyond comprehension. Yet there
are those amongst us who cannot sleep a wink until they have ensured that
the rights of the vertiginous to stand atop mountains, the agoraphobic
to take a long walk outside, and the shy and retiring to speak out in
front of millions is enshrined in law. Who are these people? This mysterious
"they" who spend their lives prescribing and, more often, proscribing
in the lives of others?
There are those, especially among the young and idealistic, whose views
are not tempered by experience and whose values are not yet fully developed
fed by the soil of reason and accommodation. They do not yet own a broader
view, a longer view of life, perhaps because not enough life has happened
to them yet. These people see an injustice, as they define injustice,
and are immediately in a hurry to put it right whether the parties concerned
welcome their involvement or not. They do not appreciate diplomacy - it
takes to long - and so resort to juridical solutions that, though they
may seem harsh and peremptory, nevertheless get the job done. Soon the
offending party (who never meant offence) is put right, and the rights
of the offended (who saw no offence until it was high-lighted, and even
then…) are restored and protected. Finally "they" can get their sleep
while the rest of us toss and turn wondering whether we have slipped through
a rent in time to a parallel universe.
For those who see their calling in life as putting the rest of us right
I offer a piece of biblical advice. It is, I confess, rather homely and
may appear to be rather quaint and old-fashioned, but I have found it
a much more robust and difficult lesson than one might at first think.
Having learned it (like everything else in my case, the hard way) it has
stood me in good stead over the years. It is taken from the letter of
Paul, a first century Christian leader, to Christian believers in Rome,
a place that was multicultural, multiethnic and that saw innumerable religions,
philosophies and practices every day. In other words not one society but
many, perhaps like a modern university. Paul wrote:
"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not
curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live
in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate
with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay evil for
evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is
possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." (Romans
12:14-18)
Paul knew that it takes all sorts to make a world and that, regardless
of our differences, we all have to rub along somehow. Lest anyone thinks
I have just made "their" point for "them" let me point out that harmony
cannot happen unless there is diversity. In music harmony may be described
as "the pleasant sounding combination of simultaneous musical notes in
a chord." It refers to composition and structure achieved through the
harmonious combination of different notes to produce a pleasing sound.
In other words, it takes all sorts of notes to make a harmony. To insist
on one note, or one chord, as being definitive of music is to rob music
of its magic. It makes as much sense as insisting the string section adopt
the techniques of the timpani. In the same way, to insist on one rule
"inclusiveness" as being definitive of a whole society is to be "conceited".
Nobody wants it, except those who insist that the way they look at that
society is the only way.
If I put the best spin on the news from Birmingham University SU I have
a feeling that the picture Paul paints is probably a lot like what "they",
or at least some of them, were trying to achieve. In which case it is
a laudable goal. It may be encouraging as well as enlightening for "them"
to realise that Christians are meant to embrace fully these words of Scripture
and "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with
everyone." "They" should bear in mind, however, that they don't always
make it easy with their misguided sense of right and wrong. And that if
they really want the society Paul describes and perhaps want to benefit
from having Christian friends and neighbours who reflect this philosophy
they might consider adopting it themselves and making room for Christians
as they are determined to make room for everyone else.