Duke University Chooses Lesbian Fiction to be Among Freshmen Summer Reading List
It is becoming increasingly obvious that our education system is used to reshape the thinking of our students. For many, this is the predictable outcome of the type of education that is being given in State schools. Much of what is taught to the children is humanistic in its assumptions. What is worse is that there is this systematic spoon-feeding of facts. There is an absence of the call to think for oneself, or for the student to know how to find the truth on their own.
Now, in the absence of this teaching on logical thought, we are now seeing things presented that have a great need for this ability. The subject matter presented in state universities are increasingly of the type that need one to understand logical progression before they would be ready to tackle them properly. One such issue is the issue of sodomy.
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Fox reports:
A gay and lesbian-themed graphic novel on an elite university reading list for some incoming college freshmen is generating pushback among Christian students who feel the material is “pornographic.”
“Fun Home,” a best-selling story that features a girl coming out as a lesbian and discovering her father was gay, is among several books selected by Duke University “to give incoming students a shared intellectual experience with other members of their class.”
I confess that this is not nor will it be on my reading list, but there are some clear things that we know about the book without reading its content. First, the book is about a young girl and her lesbian desires. The protagonist, being a lesbian, will gain the sympathy of the reader.
As one reads of these desires, her struggle with them and the perception she has of others’ feelings of these desires will cause the reader to relate. We have all had feelings and thoughts about which we have felt ashamed. We have all feared being discovered and misunderstood or rejected. So, this lesbian girl is no different than you and me.
Second, there is the fact that the father of this lesbian girl is also a sodomite. So, finding that she and her father have struggled with the same fears and rejection brings them closer. This will cause the reader to think of how their own father has failed to understand and accept them. Leaving them wishing that they had some share experience with those men like the characters in the book.
If we are not able to logically work through this emotional effect, we will then find ourselves becoming more and more sensitive and sympathetic to the plight and cause of the sodomite movement. Subtle, but effective. But if we can work through this logically, as well as emotionally, we come to a different place entirely.
For example, Fox reports:
“I feel as if I would have to compromise my personal Christian moral beliefs to read it,” Freshman Brian Grasso posted to a Class of 2019 Facebook page in late July that was cited by the school’s student newspaper, The Chronicle. “Duke did not seem to have people like me in mind. It was like Duke didn’t know we existed, which surprises me.”
Grasso is almost there. What we do when we use our logic is two things. We come to understand that though Duke claims that it wishes to accommodate all the students, the Christians are left out. Next, we find that sodomy is not something that is natural for people to practice. The body is misused in sodomite relationships. Lastly, why did both the main character and her father feel shame and hide what they were feeling, thinking and doing?
The answer is simple. No matter the cultural effects that Christians might or might not have had, people intrinsically know that it is wrong. If there is guilt about this, then there must be a place from which this knowledge of right and wrong has sprung. It is, as we are told, the Law written on the heart from Creation. Our consciences tell us that sodomy is a sin. Duke wished to have this as a place to begin this discussion and plans to leave the book on the list.
Fox reports:
“It has the potential to start many arguments and conversations, which, in my opinion, is an integral component of a liberal arts education,” Ibanca Anand, a student member of the selection committee, told The Chronicle in April.
“During orientation welcome week activities, students will discuss the book in small groups and as a larger community,” a college announcement said in April.
God help the Christian students stand for truth.
