[Vision2020] Quinlan/NOTP #61

Sun Aug 7 17:11:08 PDT 2005

I'm hesitant to address this to Donovan because I believe there's a basic 
point in his disagreement with Dr. Quinlan's work, posted today on Not On 
The Palouse, that is, unfortunately, shared by many people in Moscow who 
consider themselves open, progressive, and activism-minded.  I hope this 
would shed some light on why some of us howl mightily and continually about 
the activities of Christ Church.

I would bet my last penny, Donovan, on the fact that not only does bigotry 
exist in many places in Moscow, but also that Dr. Quinlan is opposed to it 
in all forms.  That would seem hardly necessary to debate.  You appear to be 
convinced that the entire font from which his opposition to the civic 
conduct of Christ Church flows is a dislike for or disagreement with Doug 
Wilson's religious views.

Short of Sean's adding ". . . because of his religious views, which I find 
icky" to every instance of the Kirk's unfortunate engagement with the 
community, I doubt that you would be satisfied with the motives behind his 
commentary.  Consider this, however:

Ideas have consequences.

If I believe that the heralding of the Confederacy as an example of genuine 
Christian community is an important tenet of my public witness, then I will 
embrace arguments to make the obvious evil in that society appear to be 
benign.  If I uphold the Bible as the only guide for faith and conduct for 
the Christian, I would try to justify the evil with Scripture.  And if I 
were convinced that I and others like me were chosen from eternity to live 
with God, while others were chosen from eternity to be created and then 
tossed into Hell, and both destinies exist equally for his good pleasure, 
then I might find ways to ensconce myself in privilege, comfort, oblivion 
and irrelevance in regards to the world around me, and I would either 
gleefully mock those on the "outside," or else become so insulated as to not 
grasp the hurt I caused -- hurt not only to the Gospel of Christ, but to the 
fabric of the community I live in.   Finally, if I believed that the minor 
elements of my faith were of the highest priority and the major elements 
somewhat less so, I might go ahead and cause further offense by insisting on 
"rights" and not yielding to the legitimate comfort or desires of others.

In short, a person's beliefs tend to dictate their behavior.  Whether those 
beliefs are religious, political, or simply matters of tradition, they have 
consequences, and it is fair -- sometimes necessary -- to protest those 
consequences, no matter how sincerely held the belief behind them might be.  
When one is discussing the activities of a religious figure, it seems fair 
to assume that he or she has a foundation of religious beliefs -- beliefs 
everyone gets to have, but beliefs that deserve scrutiny if they result in 
bad behavior.  Not all ideas are true, not all ideas are equally good, and 
not all ideas get a pass in the marketplace because of the mistaken idea 
that they are.  I think it's time for us to realize that here in Moscow.

For what it's worth, the public testimony of Christ Church is causing damage 
to the Gospel I've given my life to and the community I live in.  If my -- 
our -- confronting it is getting tedious and annoying, then please consider 
that we'd rather not have anything to fight.

keely emerine mix

From: Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com>
To: Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com>, vision2020 at moscow.com
CC: quinlan at uidaho.edu
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Not On The Palouse, Not Ever (Update #61)
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 12:59:40 -0700 (PDT)

While I agree with Dr. Quinlan in principle that
bigotry exists in Moscow, especially toward the poor,
disabled, minorities, elderly, gay and lesbians, and
the religious, I think he undermines his position when
he gets most of his examples of information incorrect,
or translates something into being discrimination when
it is not.

Dr. Quinlan needs to make sure his information is
correct, otherwise he just undermines all of his
points. I can list many more pieces of information
that give evidence of discrimination in this town that
hurt people everyday, and sadly, most are from the
University of Idaho, not Christ Church.

Dr. Quinlan, I believe, wrote this piece to attack
Doug Wilson for his religious beliefs and ideology,
not to point out instances of discrimination against
in Moscow. He is trying to use an emotional appeal to
those that hate discrimination.

In other words, he is being intellectually dishonest.
If discrimination is the target, why not start with
the University's policies that discriminate? If Mr.
Wilson's religious ideology is the problem, attack the
ideology.

Donovan J Arnold

--- Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:

 > Greetings Visionaires -
 >
 > "Not On The Palouse, Not Ever (Update #61)" consists
 > of:
 >
 >
http://www.tomandrodna.com/notonthepalouse/BigVioPal_Quinlan.htm
 > Dr. Sean Quinlan (Assistant Professor of History,
 > University of Idaho)
 > details local indifference toward the community's
 > ever-expanding bigotry and
 > violence.
 >
 > A very, very special thanks and vote of sincere
 > appreciation to Dr. Quinlan
 > for saying what must be said.
 >
 > This article may also be accessed from the #9 group
 > titled "Douglas Wilson
 > and the University of Idaho" at:
 >
 > http://www.tomandrodna.com.notonthepalouse
 >
 > Take care, Moscow.
 >
 > Tom Hansen
 > Not On The Palouse, Not Ever
 >
 > "What is objectionable, what is dangerous, about
 > extremists is not that they
 > are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil
 > is not what they say
 > about their cause, but what they say about their
 > opponents."
 >
 > -- Robert F. Kennedy
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
_____________________________________________________
 >  List services made available by First Step
 > Internet,
 >  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
 >
 >                http://www.fsr.net
 >
 >           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
 >
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
 >

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

_____________________________________________________
  List services made available by First Step Internet,
  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
                http://www.fsr.net
           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

_________________________________________________________________
Don’t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! 
http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/