[Vision2020] Crusaders vs. Infidels: Moscow's MuscularChristianity

Tue Nov 30 17:19:57 PST 2010

Mr. Keim, when someone contacts you off-list, I believe it is customary and
proper to reply to them off-list as opposed to on-list.  I think an off-list
contact implies that they do not necessarily wish for their words to be
public.  Please be mindful of this.  At the very least, anyone who receives
an off-list contact from me should assume that my words are not to be made
public without my permission.  I would suspect others might feel the same
about their own off-list contacts.

-Reggie

On Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 5:12 PM, Darrell Keim <keim153 at gmail.com> wrote:

> A fair viewpoint, Nick.  I suspect you view it as a somewhat literal call
> to arms.
>
> I view it as advertising hyperbole.  They are preparing their students to
> do these things metaphorically.  I base this off meetings I've had in the
> past with all three CC based institutions.  They all basically said:  We are
> attempting to prepare our students/parishioners with the knowledge to defend
> and advocate for their moral beliefs in an increasingly immoral world.
>
> This ad simply states similarly in a way designed to catch the eye of their
> target market.
>
> If they are being literal, they better step up their physical education
> program (ha-ha!)
>
> On Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 5:01 PM, Gier, Nicholas <NGIER at uidaho.edu> wrote:
>
>>  Hi Darrell,
>>
>> I disagree.  Whatever one's political persuasion any reasonable human
>> being would say that this NSA blurb is violent rhetoric and it should be
>> condemned.
>>
>> If a Muslim website had language like this on, the FBI would be on it in a
>> second.
>>
>> Really surprised at your response.
>>
>> Nick
>>
>>
>>
>> Nicholas F. Gier, Professor Emeritus
>> Department of Philosophy, University of Idaho
>> "The Palouse Pundit" on Radio Free Moscow, 92.5 FM
>> President, Idaho Federation of Teachers, AFT/AFL-CIO
>> www.idaho-aft.org/ift.htm
>> 208-882-9212, 1037 Colt Rd., Moscow, ID 83843
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com on behalf of Darrell Keim
>> Sent: Tue 11/30/2010 4:57 PM
>> To: nickgier at roadrunner.com
>> Cc: vision2020 at moscow.com
>> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Crusaders vs. Infidels: Moscow's
>> MuscularChristianity
>>
>> My summary of the new advertising campaign:
>>
>> New envelope, same old Christmas letter inside.
>>
>> Liberals will hate it, middle of the road folks won't care, and Christian
>> conservatives-their target market-will love it.
>>
>> And, no Nick, I didn't say enough had been said.  If there is new info to
>> discuss about CC-good or bad-I want to hear it.  I tried to say that
>> rehashing the old doesn't seem to be of benefit.  Small, but important
>> nuance there.  Probably my fault though, as others also missed the nuance.
>>  Easy to do, as I was recently reminded.  Email doesn't do nuance very
>> well.
>>  C'est la vie!
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 1:36 PM, <nickgier at roadrunner.com> wrote:
>>
>> > Greetings:
>> >
>> > Despite Darrell Keim's belief that enough has been said about Christ
>> Church
>> > and NSA, their recruiting blurb is simply beyond the pale.
>> >
>> > This is my radio commentary/column for the week and the full version is
>> > attached as a PDF file.  I direct you to my Logos School revision of
>> West
>> > Side Story at the end.
>> >
>> > Read everything that I've written about Pastor Wilson at
>> > www.home.roadrunner.com/~nickgier/Wilson.htm<http://www.home.roadrunner.com/%7Enickgier/Wilson.htm>
>> .
>> >
>> > Nick
>> >
>> > THE CRUSADERS VS. THE INFIDELS:MOSCOW'S MUSCULAR CHRISTIANITY
>> >
>> > A long war is a small price to pay for eternal peace.
>> >
>> > --found on a toilet stall wall
>> >
>> > I don't often cruise the website of New St. Andrews College (
>> www.nsa.edu),
>> > Moscow's small Christian college, so the new recruiting campaign gave me
>> > quite a jolt.  The headline is "Yo, Secularism, Why Don't We Step into
>> the
>> > Alley?"
>> >
>> > The blurb describes the NSA faculty as "not timid in a rumble," and they
>> > want to make the students "dangerous" so that they can "throw the lies
>> of
>> > this age up against the wall, lifting wallets and the occasional gift
>> card."
>> > It ends with "an invitation to a brawl."
>> >
>> > Is NSA a Christ-centered liberal arts college or a fighting club?  If it
>> is
>> > the latter, then its conditional use permit should be reviewed.
>> >
>> > After the initial shock receded, my first thought was "How can they
>> > possibly recruit young women with this raw machismo"? Out of seven
>> images
>> > (two with real tough guys) only one includes female students.
>> >
>> > Silly me, I forgot that some females might want to go to a college where
>> > they can meet "real" Christian men to whom they can be properly
>> submissive.
>> > These religious brawlers would defend their honor in an alley or
>> anywhere
>> > for that matter.
>> >
>> > NSA men, however, would not defend their ladies' right to vote.
>> According
>> > to NSA's founder, Douglas Wilson, misguided women might decide to cancel
>> out
>> > their husband's wise choices in church and political matters.
>> > Wilson also believes that only propertied males should vote. Deliciously
>> > ironic, however, is the fact that Wilson encourages all of this
>> congregates
>> > at Christ Church to vote for conservative candidates.
>> >
>> > The phrase "muscular Christianity" came out of the Victorian Age, where
>> > Charles Kingsley and Thomas Hughes encouraged young men to combine
>> Christian
>> > ideals with physical conditioning. Thanks to muscular Christianity, I
>> built
>> > up some pretty nice biceps at the local gym of the Young Men's Christian
>> > Association, but I still ended up with the Unitarians, who of course
>> can't
>> > fight their way out of a wet paper bag.
>> >
>> > NSA does have sports teams, but "pumpkin" rugby has replaced lacrosse
>> (too
>> > feminine?), and there is a "girls" volleyball team.  Some of the senior
>> > faculty, however, look like they have not been to a gym in ages.
>> >
>> > In 1964 Douglas' father Jim Wilson wrote a small book entitled
>> "Principles
>> > of War: A Handbook on Strategic Evangelism." I once told Wilson Pere
>> that I
>> > thought that upraised sword on the front cover of the book was rather
>> > provocative, but he just shrugged his shoulders and said that he only
>> meant
>> > spiritual warfare. Being thrown up against a wall sounds pretty physical
>> to
>> > me.
>> >
>> > Has Douglas Wilson's "Trinitarian skylarking" now turned into godly gang
>> > warfare?  An example of the former is an outrageous April Fool's stunt.
>> NSA
>> > students stole University of Idaho letterhead and used the English
>> > department's FAX line to announce a feminist scholar who would lecture
>> > topless. Wilson later admitted encouraging his students to do the deed.
>> >
>> > Douglas Wilson also established Logos School, whose K-12 students, I'm
>> > told, put on some very good plays.  I would like to propose that they do
>> an
>> > adaptation of West Side Story.  Instead of the white working class Jets
>> and
>> > the Puerto Rican Sharks, the gangs should be renamed the Crusaders and
>> the
>> > Infidels.
>> >
>> > I foresee two snags in this version of the play. Although the killing of
>> > Maria's brother by the Jet's Tony could go ahead, the love story between
>> > Christian Tony and non-Christian Maria would be a real stretch.  NSA men
>> > must get the permission from a potential date's father, or from Wilson
>> in
>> > loco parentis. Even more problematic is the fact that there can be no
>> truce
>> > between the gangs at the end.  For Wilson and other conservative
>> > evangelicals, there will be bitter warfare until Christ comes to smite
>> the
>> > infidels.
>> >
>> > As a "post-millennialist" Wilson believes that there will a 1,000 year
>> > Christian theocracy with strict enforcement of biblical law until Christ
>> > deigns to appear.  I might prefer to get it over with more quickly in
>> the
>> > "pre-millennial" Rapture.  I'll paraphrase Milton's Satan: I would
>> rather
>> > fry in the Rapture and take my chances in Hell rather than serve
>> oppressive
>> > Christian masters.
>> >
>> > Sometime in the late 1970s, I found a saying on a toilet stall wall near
>> my
>> > campus office.  Compared to most toilet graffiti, this one was quite
>> > sophisticated and a bit puzzling: "A long war is a small price to pay
>> for
>> > eternal peace." One might ask: What kind of peace is this when everyone
>> who
>> > has not converted to your religion has been killed?
>> >
>> >  Nick Gier taught religion and philosophy at the University of Idaho for
>> 31
>> > years.
>> > =======================================================
>> >  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>> >  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>> >               http://www.fsr.net
>> >          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com <Vision2020 at moscow.com>
>> > =======================================================
>> >
>>
>>
>
> =======================================================
>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>               http://www.fsr.net
>          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================
>

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