'Sorry, Wrong School'

Renewal and reconciliation at a Baptist university
by J. Christopher LaTondresse, Bethel University

There is never a dull moment on a university campus in the fall of a presidential election year – especially when your school boasts one of the largest college Republican organizations in the nation. The sheer number of George W. Bush signs taped up in dorm windows, alongside occasional posters of inspirational Bible quotes, serves as a constant reminder. At Bethel University, a Baptist General Conference School in St. Paul, Minnesota, the vocal majority of my fellow students love to wear both their faith and their politics on their sleeve.

A month before the election, a group of campus conservatives had set up a table where students could register to vote. They were also handing out campaign materials and stickers to passersby. There is nothing wrong with this. It’s healthy. It’s democratic. The fact that they were encouraging their fellow students to vote was admirable. Then it took a turn for the worse.
As a student walked by the table she was approached by one of the conservative students. He enthusiastically asked her if she would like to show her support for the president by registering to vote. As she continued walking she politely turned to him and said, “Sorry, wrong party.” He immediately retorted, “Sorry, wrong school.”

The implication was clear. You go to a Christian school. Whatever your faith inclinations are telling you are wrong. Christians vote for Conservatives. Progressives have no place here.

In light of this event and many others like it that took place at Bethel University during the lead up to the election, a group of students set out to change the political tone on our campus. Our mission was to help bridge the gap between people of faith who found themselves disagreeing politically, to equip Jesus-followers with information to help them make biblically informed decisions about their voting choices, and to provide a safe place for Bethel students to register to vote who did not strongly identify with one political party or another.

It did not take long for us to taste some of the first fruits of our campaign. Beneath red, white, and blue banners and a poster urging passersby to consider the idea that “God is not a Republican or a Democrat,” student representatives from the College Republicans and the left-leaning Peace and Justice Committee sat together at the same table registering their fellow students to vote. We registered over 150 students in 2 days. Two days before the election we hosted a forum where two well-respected local pastors who endorsed different candidates for president discussed how their faith played a role in informing their respective voting choices. In a jam-packed auditorium of nearly 300 students, these two pastors accomplished what very few politicians were able to do—or desired to do—during the most contentious election in modern American history. They helped bridge the political divide. They encouraged students to reconcile in spite of our ideological differences. They brought us together.

Our group’s first steps were small ones—but they did make a difference. At the end of the day I am realizing that it is not easy to leave a mark…but it is possible! Ours was one of the many untold success stories of the 2004 Presidential Election. In a climate of political divisiveness and bitter partisan wrangling, I believe more stories like this need to be told.

Jesus of Nazareth said that the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed: small, inconspicuous, and easy to ignore. Given time, however, it has the potential to develop into something that cannot go unnoticed. In a country where more than $2 billion is being spent on campaigns to reinforce the idea of a divided America, it’s easy for faith communities to feel rather small. It seems almost useless for children of God to offer up a prophetic call to social and spiritual renewal in the shadow of this behemoth. Do we even stand a chance?

The answer is YES – but only if we engage. The reality is that the bullying of those who use single-issue hot potatoes to guilt people of conscience into becoming one-dimensional in their political thinking will never end unless we are willing to begin to come against their popular mythology and offer a positive alternative. We must look for opportunities to stand in the gap and enter into conversations that will help in breaking the cycle, even if it is in ways that seem of little consequence.

Evangelicals are beginning to understand that tackling poverty, providing healthcare for the most vulnerable members of our society and care for the environment are issues that are not limited to a single party, religion or creed. We are searching for a new political vocabulary and looking for someone to begin a new conversation about “moral values”. We need political leaders who are not afraid to use religious language to define the complex issues facing us in a post-religious society.

At Bethel University this is beginning to happen. There are many in my generation of evangelicals who are looking for a different way to relate to our predominant political subculture. And students here are beginning to respond.

To those on this campus who presume to know God’s preferred candidate, to those who think that in order to be a person of conscience one must identify with a particular party, and to those who seek to use single issues to divide us as a community of faith – the message is becoming increasingly clear: “Sorry, wrong school.”

J. Christopher LaTondresse is a senior political science and philosophy double major at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota. He recently spent a semester working in the office of Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (Republican) and a summer interning on Capitol Hill for Congressman Mike Doyle (Democrat).

An earlier version of this article first appeared in Sojomail.