Thursday, 4:30 PM
Gordon welcomes gay-rights activists
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff
WENHAM -- Breaking with many fellow conservative Christian schools, Gordon College in Wenham will welcome to campus this week a busload of young adults who are sharply critical of the school’s policies on homosexuality.
The gay-rights activists have repeatedly been arrested and barred from the campuses of other Christian colleges this year as they travel the country to call attention to what they view as discriminatory policies and hostile climates on evangelical campuses.
Officials at Gordon, where homosexual activity is barred by campus policy, have agreed to host the group for a series of presentations and conversations, saying they believe it will be good for students to hear a variety of views. The college has held three lectures about homosexuality and morality, the Bible, and science, and is highlighting the visit on its website.
"We present lots of ideas in the classroom that we don’t agree with -- that’s part of education," said Barry J. Loy, the dean of students. "I’m hopeful that they will come here to learn, and we will do the same. We’re not keeping our students from them."
Loy e-mailed the entire Gordon campus about the visit.
The bus tour of Christian colleges is being organized, for the second year, by Soulforce, a gay-rights organization that advocates nonviolent resistance against "spiritual violence," which it defines as "the misuse of religion to sanction the condemnation and rejection of any of God’s children."
Two buses are traveling the country. The bus heading to New England has 25 riders, most of them in their 20s. The group has been greeted largely with hostility, and riders have been arrested on nine campuses they have tried to enter. They have been welcomed at four campuses prior to the Gordon visit.
"I’m hoping that we’ll be able to open some hearts and minds over at Gordon while we talk with students," said Kyle DeVries, a spokesman for the riders. "One of our main goals is to put a human face to an often abstract issue, and to share our own spiritual experiences and faith with students while they share theirs with us."
Gordon, with 1,500 students, was founded in 1889 in a Boston church basement as a missionary training school; it grew into a full-fledged college, with some graduate departments, and moved to the North Shore in 1955. Applicants to Gordon College are asked to sign a statement agreeing to "recognize the Bible to be the Word of God and hence fully authoritative in matters of faith and conduct."
Specifically, the statement says, "those acts which are expressly forbidden in Scripture, including fornication, homosexuality, adultery, drunkenness, theft, profanity, and dishonesty, will not be practiced by members of the Gordon community, either on or off campus."
Loy said the college knows that there are "students who have same-sex attraction" on campus, and that the college attempts to be supportive through its counseling center.
At Gordon, the college invited the riders to a worship service Sunday night and plans to hold a dinner Monday night for the visitors with faculty, administrators, and students. Later Monday, there will be a presentation in the college chapel featuring the riders, with a response from a college administrator. The riders will attend classes Tuesday, talk informally with students, and give another presentation.
Michael Paulson can be reached at mpaulson@globe.com.
