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« on: March 04, 2022, 05:15:53 PM »
Every semester I teach 1 or 2 courses of Christian Ethics to the nursing students. In every course I have taught so far, the best and most enlightening discussions have been the ones surrounding race. Our nursing program tends to be one of the most racially diverse on campus, so it's been fun watching how people interact with one another when we come to this discussion. I have the students research a variety of hot-button topics and then present on those topics in their own words to their classmates in their cohort -- whom they have gotten to know quite well over the course of their training. It's fun to see how they interact with their friends / acquaintances when forced to publicly discuss race. The discussion goes in many different ways -- frequently in ways that I did not predict would occur. Some students are more prone to embrace DIE language while others aren't (I once had a student try to make the other students publicly declare their allegiance to BLM or not, and I shut down that discussion quickly because students should not be put in that position in the classroom).
The best discussions occur when we are able to eschew the narrative behind those (DIE) terms and rather talk about real issues in ways that promote empathy, acknowledging that racism still exists and that people encounter the world differently based upon race, but also pointing out that, in my father's words, "people is people." We all have hopes, fears, strengths, weaknesses, laudable activities, and sins. At the end of our discussions, the outcome (usually) is a better understanding of where people are coming from, and, hopefully, an increased ability to recognize that "people is people" and should be understood as such, including a recognition that culture and upbringing matter, and learning to learn from people with a different culture and upbringing is incredibly important to a life well lived.
I think the terms "diversity, inclusion, and equity" are highly problematic given their secular connotations, but they are the dominant terms out there and can't simply be ignored with students. They have imbibed these terms for years in their education and interaction with the larger culture as genuine goods that should be embraced. Instead of simply saying that they are wrong, they need to be re-situated in a different narrative that recognizes the good to which they point while avoiding the negative. Of course, we have plenty of past examples of non-Christian language being "Christianized," and this is no different.
Diversity is not a goal in itself. It is, rather, a recognition that God has given us all different giftings and different upbringings, and we should appreciate the differences and try to find ways to learn from them. Using the scriptural description of the body of Christ, it is recognizing that we all have different roles to play in that body. In a secular context, it can be used to emphasize that multiple viewpoints can help us come to a fuller and better understanding of an issue.
Inclusion is the realization that we are all in it together just as the eye is not a foot nor is a hand a rib, but they are all part of the same body.
Equity is being sure that each part of the body gets what it needs to flourish to the best of its ability with the secular implications being a focus on equality of opportunity as well as a move to make sure that folks in places like schools get what they need to maximize their potential. Equality of outcome is not a possibility for the simple fact that people are different with different giftings, but ideally people should be empowered to get what they need to flourish in their own unique way.
This is all to say that the terms are not inherently problematic. They are when they are found in the dominant secular narrative, but they can be helpful when transposed into a Christian narrative. In any case, they cannot simply be ignored because they are ubiquitous. The choice becomes to rather ignore or deny them (which is problematic because they point to things that are, in fact, good when divorced from their secular narrative) or to resituate them in a Christian narrative. I think the latter is more helpful when dealing with college students from many different backgrounds, frequently non-Christian or minimally so.