NRO
When Christians Are Too Afraid to Hear Ben Shapiro Speak
By David French <https://www.nationalreview.com/author/david-french/>
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February 4, 2019 1:23 PM
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Fear of the Left is choking the Christian public witness.
On Friday another university canceled another Ben Shapiro speech. He’s used to
this by now, of course. It’s happened at public and private universities across
the country. There are some on the left who hate him. They want him
de-platformed as often as possible. And so it’s hardly surprising that where
the Left holds the most power, his position will be most precarious.
But Friday’s cancellation was different. This time, a Christian college
canceled his appearance. Grand Canyon University holds itself out as
traditional and orthodox in its beliefs. Its doctrinal
statement<https://www.gcu.edu/sites/default/files/media/Documents/Doctrinal-Statement.pdf>
reads like the statements of faith at countless Evangelical churches in the
United States. Moreover, the school supplements its doctrinal statement with a
truly admirable series of ethical position
statements<https://www.gcu.edu/sites/default/files/media/Documents/Ethical-Positions-Statement.pdf>.
As a matter of official position, the school declares a belief that God created
the universe (without stating a specific position on the manner of creation),
it supports a right to life from conception until natural death, it affirms the
view that sexual relationships should be reserved exclusively for marriage, and
it defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Grand Canyon even has a
strong statement in support of academic freedom, stating that “critical
thought, open dialogue, and a fair presentation of all major views is vital to
higher education, but is indispensable for genuinely Christian instruction.”
Shapiro, by the way, believes in each of the statements above. He wasn’t coming
to disrupt the university’s mission. If anything, he’d affirm many of its most
central teachings. Yet Grand Canyon canceled him anyway. Why?
The school’s statement justifying its
decision<https://news.gcu.edu/2019/02/gcu-statement-regarding-decision-to-cancel-ben-shapiro-speaking-engagement/>
was a revealing mess — somehow managing to be simultaneously self-righteous
and cowardly. At the outset, it acknowledges that the school agrees with “many
of the things that Ben Shapiro speaks about and stands for,” but then it
(nonsensically) claims that “our decision to cancel Shapiro’s speaking
engagement is not a reflection of his ideologies or the values he represents,
but rather a desire to focus on opportunities that bring people together.”
<https://www.nationalreview.com/videos/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-2019-state-of-the-union/>
But de-platforming is inherently divisive. It’s an explicit rebuke and
rejection of the (many) people who wanted to hear Shapiro speak.
As the statement continues, it grows more obsequious — writing bullet points
about Grand Canyon’s diversity, its commitment to its community, and its
positive impacts on its neighborhood and the wider world. It acknowledges that
it’s offending Shapiro’s supporters, but the entire release reads like a plea
to a secular world — yes, we erred by inviting Shapiro, they argue, but please,
like us anyway. We’re still good people.
At first glance, a statement like this seems very off-brand for modern
Evangelicalism. After all, isn’t it Trumpian now? Aren’t Evangelicals all about
owning the libs? But if you dig deeper, you know that Grand Canyon’s actions
are entirely consistent with the real malady that stalks much of American
Evangelical thought. Christians aren’t so much about owning the libs. They’re
all about fearing the libs, and that fear manifests itself differently in
different Christian communities.
In white Evangelicalism more broadly, you see the palpable panic of increased
secularization and diminished liberty that led the people of God — the heirs to
a line of faith that is thousands of years old — to seek the protection and
good graces of a philandering, mendacious reality-television star and
real-estate developer.
Yes, in earlier days, people of faith like Hezekiah confronted the Assyrian
army<https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Chronicles+32&version=NCV>
while relying on God and not human alliances to save his people, but — good
grief — that’s Hillary Clinton out there! How can the church withstand her
terrible wrath?
In other sectors of the Evangelical church, however, the fear of the Left
(mixed with more than a little desire for the kind of earthly prestige that
only the secular progressive elite can bestow) creates a very different effect.
Especially in academic circles, you see Christians virtually begging, “Don’t
treat me like the other Christians. I’m not like them.”
It’s a modern version of the parable of the Pharisee and the tax
collector<https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+18%3A9-14&version=NLT>,
where the new Pharisee puts out a press release that says, “We’re not like
those mean conservatives! We give back to our community and embrace diversity!”
In the vain effort to secure the world’s approval — and thereby secure their
institutional future — these fearful Christians broadcast their good deeds to
the world, hoping the world will love them back.
Or, to continue the analogy to Hezekiah and the Assyrian threat, one set of
Christians looks at the Assyrian army and cries out to Egypt for assistance.
The other looks at the Assyrians and seeks to curry their favor, hoping for
mercy from those who are fundamentally hostile to their faith.
It is absolutely the case that America’s churchgoing Evangelicals are among our
nation’s kindest, most compassionate, and most generous citizens. Attend your
local Evangelical church, and you’ll find people who are diligently and
earnestly wrestling with the best and most effective way to love and serve “the
least of these” in their communities and the world.
But — let’s be honest — the Evangelical political witness is a panicked mess.
And in an era that features the increasing politicization of all walks of life,
that political witness assumes greater importance even as the Evangelical
community falls into greater confusion. Fear of the secular Left dominates the
Evangelical political mind, and it distorts the Evangelical response.
And here’s where I have to take my share of responsibility. I’ve been writing
for years about the rising tide of secular intolerance. I’ve traveled the
country speaking about the progressive threat to religious liberty. Those
challenges are real, but when warnings are divorced from greater historical
context — when they’re not accompanied by clear expressions of faith and
confidence in God’s unquestioned ability to protect His church — they can breed
unreasonable fear and help rationalize a faithless response.
In 2014, my friend Tish Harrison Warren, now a priest in the Anglican Church in
North America, wrote one of the most important Christian essays of the new
century. In “The Wrong Kind of
Christian<https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/september/wrong-kind-of-christian-vanderbilt-university.html>,”
Warren describes how the student group she led at Vanderbilt University was
kicked off campus after refusing to consent to a university policy that
required Christian student groups to be open to non-Christian leadership. She
described her dismay after finding out that her far-more-progressive identity
was no protection against punitive progressivism so long as she retained her
belief in biblical teachings about human sexuality.
She discovered there is truly no “acceptable” Evangelical. But the thing I
appreciated about Tish then (I advised her student group as it fought to stay
on campus) is that throughout the process — even as her group of winsome,
thoughtful young Christians was compared to racist segregationists — her alarm
never turned into fear or bitterness. She was resolved, but she was not afraid,
and she did not exaggerate the stakes.
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Grand Canyon could stand to learn the lesson that Tish learned. Cancel all the
speeches you want — you still won’t be an “acceptable” Christian institution so
long as you hold to the core fundamentals of the faith. Instead, why not simply
keep your promises? Open your campus to the dialogue that’s allegedly so
important that you made it one of your ethical position statements. And if
members of your community think Shapiro is too divisive, ask them to challenge
him on that very point. I know him well enough to know that he’ll be more than
ready to provide an answer.
By its cancellation of Ben’s speech, Grand Canyon is communicating to its
students that their own commitments to life, liberty, and the nation’s founding
ideals are somehow suspect on their own Christian campus. And to what end?
You’ve unified no one. You’ve stifled debate. And you’ve done what Christians
are doing across the land — you’ve allowed fear of the Left to corrupt your
witness. You’re begging the world for its love. It will not love you back.
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