Posted on September 4, 2008
BROTHER MICAH ARMSTRONG came to “save” JMU in accordance with his personal doctrine. He failed. However, as the commons returns to its former peace, filled with its typical youthful buzz rather than insults and hellfire, we’re left with echoes.
It goes without saying that Brother Micah does JMU little good. His racial epithets, misogynist and homophobic slurs and judgment of our student body are inexcusable. It’s insidious to insult a campus wholesale and hide behind a prideful “mission” of self-righteousness — to pray and pray and be a villain. Whatever his righteous intentions, his malice tainted campus for five days.
His wife, the milder Sister Elizabeth, proclaimed herself to be in the “army of the Lord,” an apt metaphor considering how relentlessly the two fight against a culture they view as corrupt and damned.
But we fought back, and, like Brother Micah, we fought dirty.
His shouting saved no one and likely never will, but he did stir something in us, and in that regard he succeeded. Aside from the sly grins, rolled eyes, smug remarks and distressed Christian students, something else emerged. He conjured our personal demons rather than their better angels.
In watching the insults and projectiles — however deserved — hurled at the born-again pariah and his wife, one learned a great deal more about JMU than its menacing guest. Two students threw objects at him in the course of his rants. One student rebuked the preacher’s “faggot ways,” ironically showing us that, on that issue, he was in agreement with Brother Micah. Many students took the opportunity to voice their disapproval of the entire Christian religion, using rather colorful language. Of course the preacher set the tone, but a certain phrase about turning the other cheek comes to mind.
It’s easy to use Brother Micah as a figurehead, painting a picture of Christians as an intolerant mass of zealots in hateful lockstep. But it’s too easy, and we know better. This was one man on one mission. Those who use Brother Micah to defend their dislike of Christianity are guilty of the same narrow-mindedness.
It’s easy to imagine that, in the face of such open disdain, Brother Micah might view himself as a perpetual martyr. He all but said that in an interview with The Breeze Tuesday, and we sadly gave him reason to.
That a petition to ban the preacher from campus circulated with some success is unnerving. JMU is an institution named after one of the founding fathers, who just so happened to propose a Bill of Rights for the framework of our democracy. The First Amendment, by design, protects unpopular (as well as ignorant and distasteful) speech. Much to our chagrin, it applies to Brother Micah as well. He is certainly not welcome with open arms, but he does have a right to speak in this public place.
In the petition, it states that Brother Micah offers us “no educational value, no engagement with debate or critical analysis, and thus contradicts the mission of the university.” It’s true to the extent that his performance dropped the level of discourse, but it’s interesting to note that in the closing hours of his stay, he engaged a small group of students in a discussion more focused than is found in a majority of university classes.
It doesn’t matter that we shouldn’t ban him — we don’t need to. We should not fear false prophets or wicked arguments, especially at an institution of higher learning dedicated to critical thinking. Truth must deal with lies and arguments must be tested. We saw how his failed, but JMU is a campus of brilliant minds and we have the tools at hand to combat hateful intolerance with grace. We just didn’t use them.
More of Brother Micah’s ilk will descend upon our university. Next time, we can hopefully show them our best, refuting them while offering them a level of (strained) courtesy that was understandably absent this time around.
