The board of Calvin College has instructed the faculty there that they are required to refrain from promoting sodomy. The first thing to note is that I was astonished that somebody associated with Calvin actually took a stand on something like this. But there you go. Let’s pray the board holds out. The second thing that is noteworthy is that the faculty is in an uproar about it and, as is the case in all controversies, the issue is muddled up with a bunch of other issues, like academic freedom — manufactured in an Ephesian shop near you by Demetrius the silversmith.
George Marsden, an evangelical historian of note, tried to wrap the whole thing up in cotton batting. “George Marsden, a retired historian at Calvin and the University of Notre Dame, cautioned against making lists of positions faculty may not advocate. Militarism and abortion could also be considered confessional issues, he said. ‘There are too many possible issues,’ Marsden said. ‘You’re stirring up controversy you don’t have to have….'”
Such counsel will probably be heard with gladness in numerous quarters. And that is because controversy is something that hirelings don’t really want to have. After all, these are only sheep. Their care-providers (let us not say shepherds) are not paid enough to have controversies.