From: David John Marotta (djm5g@virginia.edu)
Date: Tue Jul 30 1996 - 09:53:09 EDT
>As formulated the criterion is deeply troubling in that it asks for
>sympathy for the views of evangelical Christians and Jews, but it
>only asks that Board members _be_ evangelical Christians. Why
>privilege that particular point of view? (I say that as a Christian,
>whether of evangelical stripe or not depends on your definition.)
I hope my previous post to the list makes it clear that the majority of the
problems on the list come from the conservative Christian groups,
mostly way to the right of evanglicals. They will stop at considering
anyone worth listening to at evangelicals. Hence evangelicals have the
best chance at correcting them and being heard. For the chairman of the
board (would it help if I said staff instead of board) I am looking
for someone of the qualifications well-respected by everyone on the list.
A published scholar of some repute. For the Lord High Prosecutor of
Inappropriate Posts (LHPOIP) I am looking for someone more than just
tolerant of evangelicals, I am looking for someone sympathetic.
>religious faith. I acknowledge that this is an easier characteristic
>to identify than tolerance, civility and sympathetic respect for the
>views of others. Perhaps that's why the criterion is formulated as
>it is. However, I think the current formulation causes more problems
>than it solves.
Perhaps it does, except that I am the one who gets to pick the right people.
I will probably make at least one mistake in my selection, and ask that
person to step down. The difficulty with asking for "tolerance, civility
and sympathetic respect for the views of others" is that those who
would be the most likely to claim such virtues are often those who
dislike evangelicals for not having these virtues. Since "tolerance"
is often seen as a vice among evangelicals, to have a non-evangelical
advocating that they have the virtue of tolerance is going to be like
mixing oil and water.
Please trust me on this. Having run B-GREEK, B-HEBREW, and BIBLE for
the past years I know the perspectives of all the different groups.
BIBLE was originally created in order to have a forum for those who
considered the BIBLE authoritative to have a place to post which
wasn't B-GREEK or B-HEBREW. This change (many years ago know) has
helped the scholarly lists more than any other change has. Having
some board members which can say, "Yes, I too believe that the
Bible is authoritative in my life and have many of the same beliefs
as you, but your post is still inappropriate because..." will do
more for the list than trying to find common ground on the basis
of scholarly tolerance.
When I used the term "Board" I probably mislead many people. I am looking
for a staff as much as a "Board" I am looking for at least one chairman
of the Board type who is a known scholar. For the remainder I am looking
for a staff to help with the work of the list. In the ideal workings of the
board you won't know they are there, except that the content on the list
will improve.
I hope this help set aside your fears,
David John Marotta
List Owner for B-GREEK and B-HEBREW
David John Marotta, Medical Center Computing, Stacey Hall
Univ of Virginia (804) 982-3718 wrk INTERNET: djm5g@virginia.edu
Box 512 Med Cntr (804) 924-5261 msg PRODIGY: KCMR45A
C'ville VA 22908 (804) 296-7209 fax IBM US: usuvarg8
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