What makes a Christian college Christian? Fear of the Lord. Prudence. Righteousness. Justice. In "A Red Letter Campus," Eastern University president (and former Sojourners board chair) David Black looks at these and other commitments Jesus espoused and how they can be the basis of a university that's Christian in character. "A Christlike college," Black writes, "teaches students to be in but not of the world, loving their neighbors with the love of Jesus, a love that demands sacrifice and persistence."
Those attributes are required of more than institutions of higher learning, of course. They're asked of each of us, and in sometimes impossible-seeming situations. Jason Webb, graduate of an evangelical Christian college in California, joined the army as a telecommunications operator in 2004 and was soon sent to Iraq. It quickly became clear to him that he couldn't stay. "I cannot kill, participate in warfare, or support any organization that does," he wrote in his application asking for honorable discharge as a conscientious objector.
Kevin Hicks found himself in a similar situation when an Iraqi man asked him to explain why he was in Iraq. He couldn't. Hicks and Webb are part of a growing number of American soldiers seeking CO discharges, longtime Sojourners contributor Stacia Brown writes in "Valor, Honor, Conscience." In these times--indeed, in any time--peace isn't just an option, Hicks says. It's a necessity.
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