On Thursday, Feb. 15, the hosts of the podcast CrossPolitic gave a live show in the ISUB. The title of the talk was “Racism, Tyranny, and University Culture.”
CrossPolitic is a podcast that tackles political topics from a religious perspective. Their mission statement, from their website, is to mix “the taboo formula of faith, culture, and politics to bring the clarity of the gospel into muddle America.”
The hosts of CrossPolitic are Toby Sumpter, a pastor at Christ Church in Moscow, Gabriel Rench, a deacon at King’s Cross and a University of Idaho graduate, and David Shannon, president of The Doane Creative Agency.
King’s Cross Church was planted in Moscow by Christ Church in 2022. Their mission is to make Moscow a “Christian town” and to establish “a family-friendly culture of Christian education in which well-loved and well-disciplined children will learn to stay the course.” They also seek to provide “Christian leadership in the arts, in business, in education, in politics, and literature” throughout the Palouse, as stated on their website.
The talk given ultimately centered around the desire for truth and the supposed lack of truth in current college culture.
“College right now is not a race to truth in the classroom but a race to who can have the best amenities,” said Rench. “From the beginning, universities were founded and steeped in Christian ideals and visions.”
Rench continued to back this claim by using the example of teaching evolution versus creationism in the classroom. If there was a desire to teach truth in the classroom, instructors would be willing to present both sides of the argument, he said.
Sumpter adds on to this argument, citing his experience at New Saint Andrew’s College (NSA).
“At NSA, we read Darwin’s evolution papers,” Sumpter said. “Because we believe in truth, we read both sides and learn how to interact with them.”
Sumpter and Rench both said that college culture now is fashioned with no regard to truth, but rather caters almost entirely to emotions and creating ‘safe spaces,’ which they relentlessly mocked.
“University culture is not only set up to not care about truth but also to lull you to sleep,” Rench said. “But truth is necessary for flourishing.”
Rench urged students to not “just sit there,” but to actively pursue their truth and bringing it to class.
“We’ve gotten to the point where not only is there no truth, but universities seem to be antagonistic towards truth.” Sumpter said.
As an example, he cites the UI Law School’s recent lawsuit involving the Christian Legal Society (CLS).
When trying to present their truth, regarding beliefs about homosexuality, CLS students were given a no-contact order, he said.
“They (the CLS students) didn’t even have an opportunity to respond to their accuser or defend themselves,” Sumpter said.
They summed up their mission into one statement: “Seek truth, find truth, defend truth.”
Historically, defending their truth had led to getting arrested or getting kicked out of school. Rench was one of the five people arrested for violating masking and social distancing orders in September 2020 outside of the Moscow City Hall, for what might be called “defending his truth.”
Additionally, during the event, the hosts discussed defending “your truth” to the point of getting kicked out of classes, specifically liberal arts classes, and how that would be the most “exciting” part of the school.
The hosts also focused largely on the concept of a master narrative.
“Everybody has a master narrative about the way the world is – they believe the world is a certain way,” Sumpter said. “Modern university culture has largely embraced the master narrative that everything is fundamentally a power struggle. Some have a voice and those who don’t. If power is the reality, then it is limited to those who have it and if you don’t, you’re being oppressed… that becomes the focus of an education.”
He stressed that focusing on power struggles and other “trivial” things like feelings and emotional well-being should not be a priority in a college education, but rather “real-world skills.” He claimed that having these cornerstones is defiling the very nature of truth and that classes have completely forgone teaching abilities that allow students to succeed in the workforce.
“If everything is a power struggle, then you’re a victim,” Sumpter said. “Everything is a microaggression.”
Shannon also spoke on this way of thinking.
“The claim that ‘it’s not your fault’ or ‘you’re stuck here unless you find a way to start exercising power’ is a lie,” Shannon said. “We tend to see ourselves as being silenced and acting like the world… but nothing can stand up to faith in the truth.”
Everyone has access to truth and can fight for it and change their circumstances, he said.
As for the future, the CrossPolitic hosts believe math and science classes are already following the way of liberal arts classes in denying the truth. The growing lack of truth is a culture-wide phenomenon, they believe, and “if the most important thing is power, truth is the casualty.”
Rebekah Weaver can be reached at [email protected]
A Correction
Toby Sumpter is now the pastor of King's Cross Church.
JP
What say you author