During the winter/spring semester, Campus Edge participated in The Colossian Way, a pilot study from the Colossian Forum. Their website documents some of our hopes as we went into the study. The following are a few of the things that Sarah and I said, in the hopes that it will motivate you to read the article:
“Young scientists at a secular university can really struggle with what their faith means in a university context,” said Sarah Bodbyl Roels, a research associate and senior scientist at Michigan State University. “They struggle with whether to let others in their departments know that they’re Christians or have certain ideas, when the common perception is that religion has no place in science departments at secular universities.”
What will be challenging, Brenda said, is getting both groups to the point where they can be honest about why this topic bothers them so much. “’What are the issues I’m bringing to the table? Why is it so hard for me to have a conversation about this?’ We need to get to a level where it gets personal or painful because that’s more where God is able to work.. . Is there another way to look at this outside the framework you’re used to with the university? It doesn’t invalidate the truth you’ve come to conclude, but it does raise the question of whether there might be another way of looking at it,’” Brenda said.
More thoughts from Sarah:
“The hardest thing I’ve found is understanding that you have much more in common with this person you think of as ‘other’ than you think you do. Once you learn to talk to that person and find your commonality – that you’re really trying to protect the same thing – they no longer seem as alien.”
Read the article here.
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