If you have a young person in college, or preparing for college, here is a resource for you (this could be recommended for any parent). J. Budziszewski (pronounced Boojee-shef-skee - hereafter referred to as JB) is a professor at the University of Texas. He has written a hot seller entitled, How to Stay Christian in College and just recently published a second in the series, Ask Me Anything 2 (Navpress, 2008).He is concerned about many Christian students who head to secular (or sometimes even "religious") colleges and aren't prepared to answer professors who attack their faith. For example, a professor might declare in class: "All of you students are too intelligent to be pro-life, right?" A threat seems to be implied that your grade will go down if you challenge the statement. JB states that in most of those situations, students are silent. Rule #1 is to "Speak Up."
He goes on to state that even the most bigoted professors often change their tone when they are challenged. He also states that other rules are "be logical," "be respectful," "keep it brief" and that you don't "have to win." He suggests a student might respond, "Sir, I understand the insult, but what is the argument?" JB also challenges students to respond to the "intolerance" diatribe by declaring, "Sir, if we had to tolerate everything, wouldn't we even have to tolerate intolerance? Don't we have to use standards to decide what is tolerable and what isn't? What are yours?" (World, September 6/13, 2008, p. 26)
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