Critiques Northwestern’s claim that it supports “academic independence”
According to a Christian civil rights leader, the” Intro to Christianity” program at Northwestern University is” an practice in anti-Christian bigotry.”
According to a course obtained by The College Fix, the training, which is taught by professor Lily Stewart, evaluates “how Christians and Christianity have viewed and interacted with gender and sexuality, systems and science, science and medicine, economics and school structures, politics and policy,” according to the curriculum.
According to the course,” How has the concept of Christ’s sacrifice been liberating for Christians?” How do we reconfigure the history of Christianity as both the persecuted AND the aggressor?
In a speech made to The Fix, Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, criticized the program. He also provided a copy of the letter he intends to send to the management of Northwestern University now, asking for class-related responses.
According to him,” The curriculum is a concrete designed to denigrate and discredit Christianity, feeding the worst hunger of anti-Christian bigots.” In fact, it also includes a graphic of” Popular Jesus” that is absolutely disgusting.
A picture of Jesus following to text reads,” Hey child!” was included in the” Hot Jesus” image in question. How about putting on some slower jam and cuddling up to the water and turning it into wine? # HotJesus”.
The College Fix contacted Stewart with inquiries regarding how she ensures that kids from all faiths feel their views are respected, whether she has received comments from students who find the training material objectionable, and how the course approaches content from an intellectual viewpoint.
She contacted Northwestern’s media relations crew with whom she declined to comment, but she also provided contact information.
A spokesman for Northwestern on Tuesday stated that it is” committed to intellectual freedom and the privileges of our university to decide the content of their scholarships and programs.”
A follow-up question, especially about the” Popular Jesus,” was answered on Tuesday by neither party.
Additionally, Donohue added,” I am also aware of the outstanding contributions that Catholicism has made to Western society. People who disagrees with that judgment has a right to say that “vitriol cartoons belong on social media, no academia.”
According to the course outline, he noted that a different Northern program called” Introduction to Islam” is “exemplary” and “neither tendentious nor racist.”
Further: Harvard hosts a transgender actor who disparages the Hasidic community
Would Northwestern view it as intellectual freedom or scientific malpractice, he questioned,” If Islam were treated with the kind of hatred that Christianity is—portraying it as]as a push for oppression.” The Catholic League may look into this.
The course focused on” Christian colonialism” and gave scheduled seminars on” The Light European Savior and Manifest Destiny.” Another lesson focused on” Christianity and servitude in the Americas.” Before that lesson, students were instructed to enjoy” White Savior: Prejudice in the American Church.”
Additionally, students were required to listen to an event of the audio” Sanctuary: On the Boundary Between Church and State,” which begins with a state that President Donald Trump uses “dehumanizing speech and racist motifs.”
The syllabus warns students:” Most of the material and topics we are working with in this class include prejudiced, insensitive, Islamophobic, anti-semitic, transphobic, sexist, homophobic, and other unpleasant language.”
The course says that” we will make a point of discussing where troubling speech, behavior, and ideas appear in our sources and how to view them as historic thinkers and learners.”
Stewart cautions her students that some language may be “painful” and that she” may try to incorporate Content Warnings on Canvas with some of the worst offenders, but there will be difficult and upsetting content throughout.”
According to photos that The Fix reviewed, one of the course’s teaching assistants gave a presentation about Taylor Swift conspiracy theories.
A slide from that presentation about a televangelist from Arkansas who” claims Satan is engineering Taylor Swift’s marriage to Travis Kelce so she can give birth to the antichrist” was largely unrelated to the rest of the class’s subject matter. Stewart was questioned by The Fix about how this presentation related to the class.
While the course covers topics involving Taylor Swift and the politics of Christianity, students do spend a week talking about John Knox, the Protestant Reformation, and Martin Luther.
Following a week-long discussion of” Jesus the Mother,” it was released.
MORE: West Virginia is in litigation for a grant to a Catholic trades college.
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Professor Lily Stewart/Northwestern University depicts a meme about Jesus that has been criticized by a prominent Catholic organization.
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