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Deconstructing Bob Jones

Timothy NoahPosted Tuesday, Feb. 29, 2000, at 6:13 PM ET

Having now read "The Truth About Bob Jones University" on the BJU Web site, Chatterbox is more confused than ever about why the university forbids interracial dating.

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1) According to BJU, this policy, which represents a "small and insignificant part of the University's whole," is never discussed on campus. "The last two or three generations of students who have graduated from this institution never once heard a discussion of this policy. It is not something that is preached or talked about."

The prohibition doesn't matter.

2) But BJU continues to suffer from a 1983 Supreme Court ruling that uses the interracial-dating ban as a reason to deny it a tax exemption. "This bone-chilling legal conclusion puts every church and religious organization in America in jeopardy."

The prohibition does matter. (Otherwise, why not ditch it and get the tax exemption back?)

3) "Does Bob Jones University look down upon interracially married couples? No." In fact, "BJU enrolls interracially married couples who wish to be educated here even though we have our dating policy."

The prohibition doesn't matter.

4) There is a "Bible principle" (though no "Bible verse or passage") prohibiting interracial dating. From the BJU Web site:

The one-world principle--every effort man has made, or will make, to bring the world together in unity--plays into the hand of Antichrist. This first began at the Tower of Babel, and it will culminate at Armageddon when the Lord returns to establish His rule of peace and harmony for a thousand years.

Bob Jones University opposes one world, one church, one economy, one military, one race, and unisex. God made racial differences as He made gender differences. Each race and each sex should be proud to be what God made it, and none should reproach the other.

At the Tower of Babel, God used language to disrupt man's plans for a one-world government. As a result of this disruption, the people were scattered, and the races were polarized. One thing is clear: God wanted a divided world, not a federalized world. Based on this biblical account (Genesis 10 and 11), the University wishes to give God the benefit of any doubt and avoid pursuing any direction that would give assistance to the renewed efforts of man to create a one-world community consisting of one religion, one economy, one government, and one race. The biblical account of Babel and God's response to it are historical fact. This Christian institution merely seeks to live and function under its best understanding of what God is teaching us from this passage about His purposes for the world.

The prohibition does matter. (If you break it you're helping the Antichrist!)

5) "Does the University believe that those who choose interracial marriage do so out of rebellion against God? No."

The prohibition doesn't matter. (If you break it, that doesn't mean you're a bad person! This is Bob Jones' version of the right-to-life pirouette about whether a woman who gets an abortion should be prosecuted for murder.)

6) But "often the promoters of [interracial dating] do so out of antagonism toward God because they are often the same entities that promote homosexuality, abortion, and other forms of social radicalism."

The prohibition does matter. (If you break it, you're letting yourself become the patsy of degenerate social reformers!)

7) Again from the BJU Web site:

Bob Jones University's policy regarding interracial dating is more of an opposition to the rebellious and defiant antichrist spirit of the promoters of one-worldism than to interracial dating itself. Many who date and marry interracially are just as opposed to one-worldism and the spirit of Antichrist as we are.

The prohibition doesn't matter. (Alan Keyes--we know deep down you're with us!)

Coda: BJU wants you to know that the interracial dating ban wasn't cooked up to block black-white dating. It was "first stated in the mid-1950s when dealing with an Asian-Caucasian dating couple." What BJU doesn't say is that in the mid-1950s, black-white dating couldn't be a campus issue because Bob Jones didn't admit blacks! For the BJU of the 1950s to have a policy against whites dating blacks would have been like Chatterbox having a policy against playing pinochle with space aliens.

E-mail Timothy Noah at .

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Timothy Noah is a senior writer at Slate.

COMMENTS

Highlights from The Fray:

This is a great article. It addresses one of the prevailing inconsistencies in the U.S. today: there is supposed to be freedom of religion, but respected politicians can get away with embracing contradictory and destructive nonsense in the interests of a Southern Strategy. This extends right to the Presidency and explains why progressive parts of the country are at the mercy of the Bible belt. Unfortunately for John McCain, it's very hard to underestimate the American public, so politicians like George W. Bush, Jr. will always get the nomination against plain speakers. Actually, by associating himself with Reagan, McCain is actually taking the side of the very forces that will probably (and regrettably) defeat him.

--Greg Hutchinson

(To reply, click here.)

(3/1)

Bob Jones University has become a thorn in the side of George W. Bush, and rightly so. As a proud South Carolinian I am embarrassed at the amount of negative attention our state has received because of BJU. It's not enough that our state is mocked every day because we fly the Confederate flag. Not all South Carolinians are backwoods hicks who frown on interracial dating.

But most important, my tax dollars go to this school, and I'm extremely concerned with that. BJU gets $2,000 a student for 200 students every year from LIFE scholarships in S.C. Why should I have to support a student or school that denies someone the right to date who they want? The Citadel, which is the Military College of South Carolina, did not want to admit women, but they finally had to suck it up in order to continue getting funded by the state. So what make BJU different? It is up to S.C. lawmakers to once again try and figure out how to right a wrong--and hopefully make S.C. look a little better in the eyes of the nation.

--Paige

(To reply, click here.)

(3/6)

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