Preparing for a new academic year
Plus, reading recommendations on third party voting, mental health among college students, and more.
We’re close to wrapping up a busy but fruitful summer season in the Bennett household. Despite occasional protests to the contrary, our kids are itching to get back to school and into more established routines. And Caitlyn and I are slowly but steadily working our way back into our normal campus responsibilities.
Speaking of which, for the past several years I’ve served as assistant director of the Center for Faith and Flourishing, with my friend and colleague Jay Bruce serving as Director. But with Jay taking his talents to Georgia to shepherd a PCA church near Atlanta, I have assumed the role of Director of the Center for Faith and Flourishing. I’m looking forward to the work ahead even though it promises to add a decent amount to my already full plate of teaching, advising, administration, and yes, research.
More good news: After a few years of basically flat enrollment levels, John Brown University is preparing to welcome its largest class of first-year students in its history. This of course speaks to the hard work of our admissions and enrollment staff, but also to the quality of our instruction, our dedication to our Christian mission, and our vision for educating young men and women across various disciplines and vocational callings. Pray for these incoming students and their families in the days and weeks ahead, as they prepare to join our campus community.
Reading Recommendations
(1) “Reject Third Parties in 2024”
Writing in the American Reformer, Mike Sabo argues that Christians should be careful about jumping on the bandwagon of third-party voting in November’s presidential election. He specifically calls out the American Solidarity Party, which has attracted the attention of some Christians due to its position on social and economic issues. According to Sabo,
They stand for marriage, prohibiting the transing of kids, protecting life in the womb, banning abortion and porn, repealing the Patriot Act and abolishing the unaccountable FISA Court, using antitrust laws to break up monopolies, and a far more limited foreign policy than the adventurism that’s become orthodoxy for both parties in recent decades.
However, as the article’s headline suggests, Sabo says Christians should refrain from voting for ASP in November, citing both prudential and practical reasons. On the prudential side, Sabo cites a number of positions in ASP’s platform that should trouble Christians, including opposition to the death penalty and openness to a variety of diversity initiatives.1 Christians convinced that ASP represents a better alternative on prudential grounds than other parties are, according to Sabo, being misled.
On the practical side, Sabo says because ASP is simply not positioned to win a national election, Christians should instead put their votes behind the major party that is best positioned to champion Christians’ interests. This is especially true in states that are poised to make a difference in the final Electoral College tally, such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Arizona. And to Sabo, this means voting Republican.
It is the combination of the prudential and practical that leads Sabo to his conclusions. To be sure, neither major party perfectly represents Christian voters; there are concessions Christians must make when deciding whether to vote for the Republican or Democratic candidate. But when one factors in the practical limitations of voting for third parties like ASP—namely, that these parties are not poised to win in any real sense, and that voting for these parties could drive a worse alternative to power—Sabo is convinced of the necessity to vote for Republicans, despite acknowledging the GOP’s recent weaknesses (especially on abortion).
“Since either Trump or Harris will win the 2024 election,” he writes, “the political choice is between those two candidates.” The GOP may not be perfect, he’d say, but it is far better than the Democratic alternative.
There is plenty in this essay with which I take issue. At many points Sabo’s writing lacks the argumentative rigor required for his forceful claims.2 Moreover, Sabo puts far more weight on the practical than on the prudential or symbolic. For some Christians, voting for ASP candidates is less about winning elections and more about adhering to conscience or sending a message to our dominant parties about a desired future direction.
Despite my misgivings, Sabo’s essay—as a reflection on the possibilities and limitations of third parties in our electoral environment— is worth chewing on.
(2) “No one said it would be easy”
Also writing about the difficulties of political engagement, Luke Stamps in WORLD argues Christians should consider reframing their voting from choosing “the lesser of two evils” to promoting “the greater good.” In doing so, we focus less on the negative and sinful elements of particular candidates—of which there will always be at least a few—and more on how their positions would lead to positive outcomes in society.
This is easier said than done. “Great care must be taken,” he writes, “that we don’t abuse this principle by providing moral cover for our predetermined political preferences.” Similarly, Christians should not be compelled to vote for one of two major candidates if doing so for either would violate for conscience. “Conscience,” Stamp says, '“matters more than consequences.”
Stamp concludes with an important challenge: “If some choose to remain officially within a major political party, they have a moral obligation to stand firm on the issues that matter most and to steer the party toward principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love.”
(3) “The (college) kids aren’t all right”
Writing in WORLD, North Greenville University’s Nathan Finn describes the myriad pressures on young adults’ mental health, and what this means for those of us committed to educating and discipling this next generation in the mind of Christ. Finn cites the COVID-19 pandemic, social and political upheaval, and the omnipresence of social media as persistent challenges.
Unsurprisingly, young Christians are not immune:
Sadly, Christian college students are not immune to these trends. The Barna Group has published several significant studies since 2018 of Gen Z, including young people who are Christians. The same trends prevalent within Gen Z are also found among professing believers. This is confirmed by the experience of youth ministers, professors at Christian colleges, and, of course, parents.
What, exactly, is to be done? In addition to imploring Christian colleges and universities to invest in mental health services while pushing back on social media culture in favor of in-person, face-to-face interactions, Finn says there is a real opportunity for administrators, faculty, and staff to shepherd and mentor students through this difficult environment. Importantly, he writes, “Students … need to be equipped to reflect Christianly about the various crises in our society. This will mean doing the hard work of cultivating a consistently Biblical worldview.”
(4) “Evangelicals who oppose far-right politics in religion try to build a new movement”
The Washington Post’s Michelle Boorstein highlights different efforts to equip Christians for a healthier political engagement in a divisive era. I have direct experience with two such efforts: The After Party, and the American Values Coalition’s Mending Division Academy. Concerning the latter,
its goal is healing division, but it’s more blunt, saying on its website that its aims include “rejecting extremism and misinformation, and defending democracy.” Its exercises focus on topics from social media consumption and conspiracy theories to the way broken politics can lead to crises of faith. The coalition also hosts conferences and organizes book groups.
More:
While Trump’s 2016 election and the division that followed are major motivators to this evangelical movement, its aim is to separate Christianity from specific politicians, parties or policies. Adherents see it as equally problematic to be too attached to the Democratic Party.
Of course, in attempting to correct too many American evangelicals’ style of politics it is possible to overcorrect to a posture of disengagement or nihilism. And it remains to be seen whether these efforts will have any lasting impact; Napp Nazworth, who leads the American Values Coalition, called this sort of work “a generational project.”
Still, if my observations are any indication, the goals and motives of these groups are genuine and grounded in concern for the future of the church. Time will tell if (and how) all this will translate into results.
I do not agree with Sabo’s characterization of these issues as problematic for Christians to consider, but they are how he frames his argument .
For example, at one point he says one critic is “simply incorrect” to suggest Republicans and Democrats are both comparably flawed, yet he doesn’t justify this statement in any meaningful sense.