In the first two weeks of November, Penn Secular Society (PSS) posted two banners. The first had a list of deities that most people no longer believe in — Hera, Odin and the like — and asked Penn’s campus, “What’s one more?” Within hours, parts of the list had been torn down, and soup and
coffee had been thrown at the sign.
Their second banner asked for responses to three verses that present evidence that women should not be welcome in religious or public spaces: Deuteronomy 22:23-24, 1 Timothy 2:12 and Surat An-Nisa’ 4:34 from the Old Testament/Tanukh, New Testament and Qur’an respectively. Within just five hours, it too was defaced.
Noah Sanders then wrote a response accusing the banners of “shamelessly ruining his day.” He implied that PSS was “tearing down any religious belief you [PSS] don’t ascribe to and stepping all over it,” when it was actually the PSS banner that was quite literally torn down and stepped on. Far from being disrespectful, PSS had invited the religious community to participate in discussion on “theology, philosophy, secularism and all manner of related topics,” as Seth Koren, the president of PSS, wrote in his guest column.
Rather than engaging in that discussion, some members of the religious community reacted by throwing soup and writing angry letters to the editor of a student paper. Even PRISM, whose mission is “promoting interactions among the various religious groups on campus through discussion” and who helped fund the banners voiced reservations about PRISM’s logo on the banner.
It should not be surprising that questioning faith leads some of us to act out of anger and hate. Throughout history, religious fundamentalists have waged holy wars, flown planes into buildings, burned “witches,” crucified people and sold others into slavery, among thousands of other evils, while forbidding secular volunteers to do something so terrible as to serve the homeless. Personally, I commend Penn Secular Society for giving us the benefit of the doubt and respecting us enough to ask questions.
Perhaps it is time to ask ourselves why we react so emotionally when our faith is questioned. Why we immediately become defensive and allow it to “ruin our day.” Why we respond by throwing soup and coffee, stones and bullets, at people and ideas that challenge our own.
Enough blood (and soup) has been spilled in the name of a God who spoke of peace and love.
It is time to ask ourselves what can be gained from coming together and having a discussion on issues of faith and morality that are not only close to our hearts and minds, but also vital to the functioning of society. Let us drink coffee instead of throwing it and speak to each other face-to-face.
I ask those who wish to participate in this conversation to leave their weapons at the door. For an hour or two, to lay down accusations and defensiveness, hurt feelings and anger, and instead just speak. And listen.
I am blessed to have found at the Christian Association a ministry that welcomes people from all backgrounds and affiliations to its discussions, and I personally look forward to hearing your questions, comments and criticisms.
Geeta Aneja is a doctoral candidate in educational linguistics and the graduate representative on the Christian Association Student Board. Her email address is ganeja@gse.upenn.edu.
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