[asa] Young Evangelicals was RE: Creation Care Magazine

Rich asks me about my students, as follows:

 Rather, Wallis is describing
young evangelicals -- including the college-aged ones that we are trying
to
reach as part of the ASA's mission -- are becoming more involved with
climate change, poverty, Darfur, etc. The difference between the current
activism and past ones is that these students are, as he described,
prophetic rather than p artisan.

I really think that these two are on to something here. Ted, is that what
you are seeing on campus at Messiah College?

***

Ted: Partly I am, Rich, partly I am. Thank you for asking such a good
question.

I listen to my students, and I also listen to my daughters, who are young
evangelicals themselves if not Messiah students, and over whom I've had very
little conversation about science issues, unless they initiated it from what
they were hearing. (Neither one is particularly interested in science.)

Climate change and environmental stewardship are on the radar screens of
this generation, much more than I had expected. Here at the college, for
years, we've had a very active and effective "Earthkeepers" club, with
students from all majors in important roles. They also do very big service
projects on their own (with the college helping logistically), and lots of
our courses require service projects. Many of those service projects
benefit impoverished people here in the USA and also in Africa and other
"two thirds world" places. Our engineering faculty are particularly good at
this type of Christian service, and a couple of them have talked about this
at ASA meetings (David Vader spoke in Edinburgh, e.g., about appropriate
technology in Africa).
As far as I can tell, politics (in the sense of religious right vs
religious left) has nothing to do with this. It's all about finding ways to
advance the kingdom of God. I have no idea, frankly, what the political
views are of most of my students, as individuals,, and I don't really care
very much. As a group, we know that they are more conservative than
students generally across America, but that's no surprise to anyone. But it
doesn't seem to affect this at all, either way. I'm very glad about that,
b/c I don't think that the people being served care at all whether the hands
helping them voted for Mr X or Ms Y in the last election. Nor do I.

The one issue I am aware of, where politics does intersect with faith on
campus, is abortion. Many of our students are pro-life (as I am myself),
and some of them are active with organizations promoting that view. But IMO
that issue is political simply b/c the national parties have made it so,
something I won't pursue further here. I see it as religious activity that
can become politicized, not as political activity with religious elements.

Ted

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Received on Thu Jan 24 16:08:56 2008