Kansas City: The Opinions of Many

Waking up early on Friday, we planned to drop Tom off at the airport and then drive all day to Kansas City. The rain had continued throughout the night, and, as the news has reported since then, major flooding had begun to take place. We literally drove in all directions before we could find a road that had not yet been closed down so that we could get out of Loveland. Finally arriving at an exit point in the interstate that was still open, we arrived at the airport in just enough time for Tom to catch his flight. 

David was likewise traveling to a friend's wedding that weekend, so Duncan, Megan and I set out across the great and vast Midwest, traveling east towards Kansas City. As rain continued for the next few hours, strange grey clouds contorted in the heavens above us. The misty mountains disappeared in the background of fog retreating behind us, and eventually sunshine poked its way through the atmosphere. I found the eastern half of Kansas very beautiful. The huge fields of bright yellow sunflowers contrasted pleasantly with the deep blue sky. Large rolling hills soon appeared, adding green grass and trees to the vivid color scheme we were driving through.

After driving over 15 hours, we arrived in Kansas City and were able to meet a few of the church college group members. We were finally settled in our temporary homes, and Megan and I were ecstatic at the blessing of being able to sleep in an actual bed for the first time in two weeks! We are always thankful for any place to sleep at the end of a long busy day, so a bed is an added blessing. We spent our weekend relaxing. Visited an art museum and then a park that included a beautiful rose garden in the middle of it. Throughout the day on Saturday, we counted a total of at least eight weddings taking place throughout the city. It was a gorgeous fall day that clung to the warmth of summer, seeming to sense that it would not last for much longer.

Bright and early Monday morning, we all gathered at the guy's campus house and travelled to the campus to set up. It was cold and windy with threats of rain in the forecast, and most people hurried on by the display without a second glance. After about an hour, the police arrived with a complaint that someone had felt harassed by us. This was interesting because we had barely talked to anyone yet that day. The police decided we needed to be on the sidewalk because that was public property; instead of behind the stone wall, which was school property but yet did not cause an obstruction in the walkway. However, we were glad to move the five feet in order to be closer to students walking by. Shortly after, the Dean of Students came walking by and chatted for a few minutes, nodding in approval at us.

As we finished setting up the banners on the sidewalk, a slim girl dressed in business khakis and a short, trim orange sweater covering her white button down blouse came walking briskly up to Tom and I. "Oh, are you taking this down?" She inquired with a critical sneer on her trim features. At our response that we were just finished setting up, she held up a clipboard and declared she was starting a petition to get the banners taken down because, "It is offensive to people for you to proselytize on this beautiful campus that I love." Emily then went on to declare that the three main cores of the University are equality, inclusion and diversity. Tom found it interesting that she did not include 'education' as one of the core values. Later that day, I found the entire list of core values of the school framed in a hallway. A few more of the values that Emily had failed to mention included this: "We encourage free, honest and candid conversation. We foster academic and intellectual freedom. We are sensitive to differences in learning styles, ideas and beliefs." To me, this implies that the school would welcome diverse opinions on the nature of the relationships between the theories of evolution and creation; the idea of an Intelligent Creator existing; and the all-important discussion of answering the question, "Who is Jesus?"

For at least the next two hours, Emily, a French major, commenced to run after people passing by and declare that she had a petition against the display because it promoted a very narrow mindset. Not only did she declare this, but she practically begged people to sign it, laughing in triumph every time someone did. We attempted to help people think (and read the displays) before they signed the petition. Time and again, she repeated statements that contradicted herself as she declared that the content on the display was narrow minded. She refused to read the banners, acknowledging all that she had seen was the heading of the poster entitled, "Questions for the Evolutionist."

"This is not about diversity-this is only a very narrow mindset that doesn't include everyone," she emphatically declared to people she had stopped. Many students who stopped and realized what it really was about, would declare that they were either on our side, and were Christians, or that they didn't agree with the petition even though they did not agree with our signs, but believed we should be able to be there because of the freedom of speech. Emily stuck around for about three hours. She actually got more people to stop and read the banners than would have stopped otherwise! 

While I did not end up having what I would call 'fruitful' conversations with anyone, or sharing the gospel at length, this day on campus opened my eyes up to the blindness that people can fall into when they accept all religions as equal and seek to welcome sin into the culture and declare it normal. Emily was very upset because of the content on the banners, yet she was not willing to engage us in conversation or consider any of the arguments for free speech or diversity of opinion (the same words she had used earlier, only with a much different meaning!) On campuses today, the predominant definition of both tolerance and diversity is acceptance of any lifestyle as long as it makes someone happy. Any argument or disagreement towards a certain lifestyle or relativistic belief is considered to be narrow minded and bigoted. However, it ultimately comes down to the fact that not all beliefs can be right because of the incredible contradictions between so many. This world is not going to last forever. I pray that many people realize the error of their relativistic thinking before it is too late.