College Students & The Marketplace of Ideas

The fall semester has begun at just about every college and university in the country.  For those that know me, they know I work at The University of Maryland College Park.  I help a young man at Howard move in last week.  I was on the campus of Bowie State University earlier this week as young coeds hustled around campus with carts of college necessities for the dorm.

As an older adult, I hope to encourage and influence these young adults – people in their late teens and early twenties – to grow up and be capable, well-balanced individuals that give to humanity and suck the life out of society!  Of course, being a Christian, I am convinced that living as a Christian is the ideal way to do this – going out of your way to help others, serving humanity in the name of Christ, and encouraging people to seek and follow God themselves.  The larger secular society has no problem with recruiting for a social club, encouraging people to join a fraternity or sorority, or even joining some club that is looking for alien life on other planets.

When key members of such organizations influence others to accept or buy into the ideals or philosophies of their respective groups, nobody seems to really care.  They may say, “that’s not for me” and move on.  However, when people of faith influence people and encourage them to accept or buy into the ideals or principles of their respective faith systems, people put up signs and walls that boldly proclaim: NO PROSELYTIZING. 

Why the double standard?  shouldn’t ideas stand on their own merit and values against other ideas and the d views that encompass a system of belief?  Of course there are a plethora of different belief systems.  The  COEXIST bumper sticker is telling and a fair reflection of what SHOULD be a basis for sharing ideas without killing each other.  As a citizen of the United States of America, this idea shouts off of the pages of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.  Yet, people are offended when faith is involved with the sharing of ideas.

The University started as a place of study and reflection regarding faith.  the oldest University in the World, The University of Bologna in Bologna, Italy started as a place to study Roman Law – that is, the law of the Papal States, of which Bologna belonged.  What is amazing is that Bologna was as independent as one could be in the 11th century.

Anyway, I hope to be a positive influence on college students wherever I run into them.  I hope to influence for good, not evil, for faith, not godlessness, and for productivity, not consumerism.

I pray your fall semester goes well!