A child with a strong will is not a horse to be whipped into subjection. A strong will is a good thing, right, and beautiful. If a parent has the mentality that a strong will is "bad" or "evil" in a boy or girl (the IFB are particularly harder on their female children) then they will do whatever it takes to "bring that child into subjection" and that's when abuse occurs at some of the highest levels.
If one of their main goals is to get a child in complete subjection to all of his authorities, then you can expect nothing less than a child trained and reared to participate in evil just like the children in Nazi Germany. Hitler was a master at controlling his subjects and his training sessions were done first and foremost amongst the children. Were Hitler's follower's right to follow his authority? How many IFB kids would have followed Hitler if they lived in Germany during that era? How many kids would have bought into the "lines" the German authorities gave them as to why this was "the right thing to do?" After all, Hitler used the Bible and since the Bible says to follow the laws of the land and since you can pretty much prove any action with any verse in the Bible, I'm sure it wasn't hard to prove his position.
No doubt, when you go after breaking the will of a child, you are setting them up to fall prey to unjust and evil dictators and abusers. Just imagine "beating a child into subjection" for "bad behavior" and then finding out that that child was being bullied, emotionally manipulated, molested or singled-out by an authority figure all during that time. This is where the rubber meets the road and this philosophy gets really sick. And the ideology that says obeying authority and complete subjection to authority is one of the major goals in parenting is nonsense and sets the child up for abuse of all kinds.
Martin Luther King Jr. stood up to a government who was aiding and abetting racism. Rosa Parks refused to follow the civil law and move to the back of the bus. Sojourner Truth was a slave, who won her freedom by running away and preached to others about ending slavery and fought for blacks and women to be treated as equals. Harriet Tubman was a slave who ran away and worked to free other slaves from their abuse. Martin Luther risked life and limb to oppose the Catholic church and fought for religious freedom. Alice Paul went to prison, was locked in solitary confinement and force-fed due to her relentless efforts to help women get the right to vote. Nelson Mandela led a movement opposing apartheid and ended up in prison for 27 years. Gandhi led peaceful movements to oppose the British government. The new movie, Valkyrie, demonstrates the courage and bravery of the men who worked meticulously to be subversive to Hitler and his sick government.
What would have happened if these men and women did not stand up against the system and instead decided "submission to authority" was the ultimate surrender and sacrifice?
1. Blacks would still be slaves.
2. Women would still be seen as unequal with no right to vote.
3. Hitler's regime would still rule and millions more would be devastated.
4. There would be no freedom of religion.
5. The people of India would not have their freedom.
6. Apartheid would never have been eradicated in South Africa.
The list could go on and on. And when activist take their stand they are shunned, scorned, mocked, chastened, tortured, imprisoned and murdered. Not until years or decades later, when change finally happens do people sit back and say, "Wow. Thank God they did what they did." It takes men and women who are controlled, wise, fearless, and courageous to stand against unjust systems.
So in essence, by breaking the will of a child and teaching the child that opposing "God-ordained authority" is absolutely wrong, the parents are ultimately raising a coward. Yes, a coward. They are raising a child with no backbone, susceptible to every lie and deception of those in authority over them. And since all authority is human and some human authorities are evil and act in evil ways, they have set their child up for failure and defeat.
By giving the child no right to say, "Enough, I won't be treated this way any longer," or "I am standing against this evil on behalf of those who cannot stand up for themselves," they have taken away their ability to discern evil from good. So when the tough times come and children are being abused or a people-group is being oppressed, or authority calls for the dehumanization of another human being, don't expect those children to be the future adults who stand up to the abuse, brutality, human rights injustices, and unjust civil laws. No. Instead they will pick fights about all the wrong issues and destroy people's lives and when the real issues arise they will downplay them, ignore them, stuff them in a box and walk away.
They will be the first adult to say, "Well, every denomination has their problems. You can't say we have issues without saying everyone else has the same stuff going on," and "Our problems are no worse than others." And by saying this they will appease their consciences and completely ignore their specific role in dealing with the problems from within their own groups and associations. Why? Because these will-less children will have participated in the evil (obeying always and keeping sweet) or they will simply choose to remain silent during times when evil reigns. It is already happening and it will continue, because these children have had their "good and evil" compasses ripped away from them and they have no capacity to stand up for themselves or others.
No one will ever be able to tell me that the abused kids in the IFB can stand on their own two feet and that they know how to think for themselves when for decades Bob Jones University continued its relentless and evil (Yes, lets say what it is- EVIL!) racism. And I never heard of one public outcry, petition, or group of picketers coming out from amongst their ranks. But finally, in 2008, for the first time in its history (that I can remember), a group of "renegades" (my own interpretation) became activists for change and then the non-activist graduates of the University (the fear-driven) had the audacity to downplay this group's role in the University's final statement of apology as if they have to establish who gets the "credit." Come on, let's put this into perspective. It took decades for even a simple apology. And all during the time the petition was being drawn up and signed, the "yes men" and loyalist continued their long history of saying absolutely nothing or even worse, criticizing those who decided to do something about the issue.
I will never forget the story I was told from one of our friends who lived near us for a time. Both of their college-aged daughters initially decided they would go to Bob Jones University. Because they were Caucasian/Hispanic they were required to send in a picture of themselves as well as fill out a form where they were asked to "claim their race." Once they claimed their race they would only be allowed to date a person of that particular decent while attending the university. Both girls had the same mother and the same father, but when they sent in their pictures, one of the daughters was told she didn't look "white" enough and was told by the university that she would only be allowed to date a Hispanic. Needless to say, neither of the girls went to Bob Jones University in the end.
This is a prime example of the human soul and individual pain behind tragic and horrendous policies. This is what happens when religion and religious people get it all wrong. Just think for one or two minutes about the number of individuals this philosophy has affected and you will (and should) be moved to tears.
Apologizing is a needed first step in the process of reconciliation, but it doesn't stop there. Taking action-steps to wrong the rights from the past is another ball game and wrong actions (specific and detailed) still need to be called out by name, corrected and remedied.
And in the end, Bob Jones graduates, who haven't raised one ounce of opposition against the prevalent racism, have the audacity to complain that they are "discriminated" against by other schools as other educational systems refuse to take their non-regionally accredited degrees and transfer their credits or grant them licensure. They really believe they deserve to be the exception to the rule. The BJU grad has absolutely no comprehension that to some black people BJU is on the level with an institution that promotes the skin heads or Hitler's ideology and that black people and Jews gave their lives to rid society of this evil nonsense. Why don't they "get" this? Probably for many reasons, but most likely because their wills have been broken and they don't have the capacity to see evil for what it is, even when it's shouting their names. How sick does it get?
I can hear the BJU grad saying: "You can't label all of fundamentalism. We are not all that way. Bob Jones is the victim. They've been given a "bad rap" by the media. Everybody else did it too (albeit decades ago). Everybody else has other "major" issues and we, well, our problems are relatively minor" and besides Bob Jones has been singled out (of course, it has nothing to do with their own destructive and continued behaviors). They are the ones being wronged and they don't deserve the extremely negative and biased, liberal press, blah, blah, blah."
And the BJU grads (loyal to the system at every turn) will continue giving their excuses, not because they couldn't see real changed if they actually protested the university about it and stopped financially supporting this nonsense by sending students there, but because they are cowards who don't take up the worthy and righteous causes within the country. They would rather fight other Christians about music, hair, clothing and every other ridiculous thing you can think of than acknowledge that their group has real, nasty kinds of issues. They will continue saying that "everybody else does it" and "don't single out our sect" when it comes to real evil, all in an attempt to exempt themselves from joining in the fight against the sickness pervasive in their own group.
And all the while they continue "building their case" to defend the institution another day goes by when they've remained silent about abuse and prejudice. And to the pastor firmly planted in the IFB I would love to ask the questions: Have you ever preached one sermon against what BJU has done and named the action and university by name in your sermon? I'll go another step. Have you ever preached against the racism and then posted the sermon on the internet for the world to hear how wrong it was and outlined steps that still need to be taken to remedy the wrongs? Have you openly and publicly stood up for the abuse victims who were treated poorly at Bob Jones University due to their race or choice of dating partner? Doesn't it say something to you that most IFB pastors are just now realizing they should have a healthy attitude toward "racial reconciliation and unity" in their churches? Have you ever heard the statement, "Your silence speaks louder than your words"?
Their silence is not the only problem, because along with the silence is the fact that these pastors pride themselves on being decades behind culture, but when it comes to abusing or dehumanizing another person or race, being decades behind is just not acceptable.
BJU has also built into these men a culture of fear of the big "falling out" and if they speak against the university they might be ostracized and actually never speak there again (gasp!) or get put on "the list." I wish people who've chosen to stay in this sect would stand up for something worth standing for. But I'm not sure I'll ever see that happen in my lifetime. And if a person can't even stand up for African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and abused men, women and children then a person can't stand up for anything and they are nothing more than spineless men and women ruled by the "powers that be."
As good fundamentalist pastor's the men in this group have most definitely called out men like Billy Graham. And I'm sure I could find hundreds of sermons against any number of religious leaders within our country. So what about Bob Jones University? If they haven't called out this racism for what it is, then they've participated in the abuse by their silence and they should acknowledge it, admit it and stand against it. And for once in their life in regards to racial discrimination and abuse, I would love to see them do the right thing!
I see the number of people rising to the forefront after having left this fundamentalist sect and getting the backbone, courage and anger that is needed to say it like it is and who've decided to call out the sickness when they see it. Please don't listen to the cowards. Don't "chill out," don't "back down," don't "stop the rhetoric," don't stop screaming as loudly and boldly as you need to until you are heard and the evil abuses within this system are driven out and the damage has been corrected! If you're going to rant and rave, I can't think of anything better to rant and rave about then the abuse of men, women, and children and the degradation/dehumanization of people of another race or religious preference. This fight is worth our time, energy, and effort.
And by the way, does Bob Jones University still have a dormitory named after a former KKK leader?
(Bibb Graves, two-term governor of Alabama (1927-31, 1935-39). Although Graves was Exalted Cyclops (chapter president) of the Montgomery branch of the Ku Klux Klan when he was first elected governor, he was also a progressive who sought to improve public education in Alabama. Graves served as a member of the board of trustees of Bob Jones College and a BJU dormitory is named in his honor.[11]) Taken from Wikipedia.
And do students still have to get permission from their parents to date someone of another race? Has Bob Jones University ever written personal letters of apology to those who were berated or mistreated for raising concerns about this issue? Have they ever written letters of apology to students who attended Bob Jones University who were African American, Hispanic, or Asian, etc. for their actions and policies? I would really like to know.
"Other schools" have not necessarily taken these steps, but I also know of no "other school" in the country who allowed the type of racist policies that Bob Jones University has allowed. So taking fifteen extra steps of reconciliation on the issue would only be what I would consider "appropriate and necessary measures" to remedy the wrongs of the past and present. Since Bob Jones University has so many structures in place to deal with and document "deviant" behavior, it's astounding that they have never been able to form some sort of "reconciliation committee" to hear from those who were grossly wronged by the university and let them express the pain the policies caused them. True sorrow over past wrongs equals tangible and specific acts of reconciliation. Words mean little without action.