承诺 & 关键文件 多样性很重要

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在韦斯特蒙特，多元化很重要

Christ holds first place in the educational mission of our college both as an academic institution and as a residential community. The specific expectations of college members in response to Christ’s preeminence are enumerated in the ag娱乐官网生活宣言 . “多样性很重要 at Westmont” describes how we live out these expectations as we strive to love one another as Christ has first loved us.

长期的目标 — As an academic institution, our desire to honor Christ informs our 通识教育哲学 , our intended learning outcomes for students, and our expectations for our graduates. One of the central goals of Westmont’s educational program is that:

Students have the understanding and skills to engage people unlike themselves —both individuals and groups — in ways that affirm others as persons created in God’s image. Students are able to approach others respectfully — avoiding the natural tendency to deal with differences by vilifying, 浪漫, 或加害.

类似的, 作为一所住宿学院, we aspire to the vision of our ag娱乐官网生活宣言, 这提醒我们:

Community is built upon other-centered practices. It flourishes in a place where love for God and neighbor is cultivated and nurtured. It grows strong when members practice integrity, 忏悔, 和宽恕, attempt to live in reconciled relationships, accept responsibility for their actions and words, and submit to biblical instructions for communal life.

我们的长远目标 — both inside and outside the classroom — are to celebrate God’s creativity in shaping us and to live in reconciled relationships with one another. But our long-range goals must also be reflected in our daily walk. For Jesus the kingdom of God was not just a long-range goal. He broke through the prejudices of his day, showing that everyone — not just the privileged few — is welcome in God’s kingdom, 此时此地.

In the time and place where Jesus lived, people despised anyone who came from Samaria, and rabbis would not speak to a woman in public. 但是耶稣推翻了这些偏见, publicly asking a Samaritan woman for a drink of water and starting a conversation with her. 他的门徒很惊讶, but they were just beginning to see the radical respect that Christ’s followers are to show others. As we cross paths with each other in classrooms and residence halls, 在办公室和会议上, 在教堂和餐厅, our desire to hold Christ preeminent in all things also shapes our manner of engaging one another in everyday encounters.

每天相遇的目标 — Jesus gave us “a new commandment, that you love one another.“因为我们遵守这条诫命, we learn to honor and respect one another in the ways that Scripture teaches. Therefore in our daily interactions as we try to live out what it means to be part of the kingdom of God, 我们力求:

  • 公开地参与讨论, demonstrating humility toward our own perspectives, and respectfully examining views that are unfamiliar;
  • affirm every person as created in God’s image and reject stereotypical notions that demean, 模拟, 或过于简单化;
  • honor what is distinct in each other’s experience as well as what we share in common;
  • make choices that convey respect for our neighbors’ experiences; and
  • acknowledge the significance of context and its influence on our words and actions.

We are all alike in our need for Christ. But in our fallenness it is all 太 easy to mistake “we are alike in our need for Christ” for “everybody else is just like me.” Unity in the midst of deep and valuable difference was one of the most difficult issues for the early church; we shouldn’t suppose it’s going to be easy for us.

First-century Jewish followers of Christ could not accept that Gentiles could follow Christ without becoming Jewish. 但正如上帝启示给彼得的, they were confusing their personal cultural experience with what is normative. 同样地, we may be tempted to suppose that for others to be Christians, 他们一定和我们一样是基督徒. But the family of God includes brothers and sisters from all sorts of backgrounds, and most of us are barely beginning to learn about those with whom we will spend eternity.

Jesus came to redeem us, but He also came to renew us, in our minds as well as our hearts. 这意味着, 在某种程度上, becoming open to one another’s experience and honestly sharing our own, working through our differences rather than just pretending that no conflicts exist.

门徒与纪律 — Even as we aspire to live out such goals in all our interactions, we recognize that sometimes we are not as wise, 作为关心, 就像我们所希望的那样. 然而, some behavior falls so far short of these goals that it will simply not be tolerated.

  • 破坏公物和暴力. 对他人施加身体暴力, threatening others with physical violence, or engaging in acts of vandalism are unacceptable (and illegal!处理冲突的方法. But such acts become even more repugnant when they are based on race, 教会传统, 种族, 性别, 性取向, 或残疾. Westmont does not tolerate vandalism, violence, or the threat of violence against anyone.

  • 文字和图像. Calling people names is an immature way of responding to conflict. 然而, 使用种族, 少数民族, 或者性别歧视, 或者展示有辱人格的图像, crosses the line into conduct that is intolerable.

While physical attacks and vandalism are rare on college campuses, demeaning jokes or harassing or threatening phone calls or emails are not. 遗憾的是, members of the Westmont community have at times been subjected to crude or demeaning phone calls, 电子邮件信息, 和海报. Sometimes those who convey such messages think it is OK if they are “trying to be funny.“这一点都不好笑. It can be, and often is, hurtful to those subjected to the humor. 这是不对的. Humorous intent does not excuse repeating demeaning stereotypes. Such behavior hurts every member of a community called by the name of Christ. Westmont does not tolerate slurs based on race, 教会传统, 种族, 性别, 性取向, 或残疾; other forms of verbal abuse; threatening behavior or threatening messages; the creation of a hostile environment; or any form of harassment. For more information, see the college’s policy on harassment.

Jesus astounded his disciples in the way he overturned the prejudices of his day based on 种族, 国家的起源, 宗教的差异, 和性别. He treated the poor with at least as much respect as he treated the wealthy and powerful. 因为他打破了偏见和偏见, he left his disciples to ponder the many ways in which they would have to rethink some of their ingrained expectations in order to follow him. After Peter had twice been told in a vision “what God has made clean, 不可称为不洁净,” he spent some while “puzzled about what to make of the vision” before realizing he had to disobey the law saying that Jews were not to associate with or visit a Gentile. Jesus had treated the woman from Samaria with respect. 但即使在复活之后, 彼得没有意识到他, 太, had to treat people of different races, 种族, religious traditions and nationalities with equal respect.

对抗与尊重 — The respect Jesus showed others not only reached across his culture’s 少数民族 和性别 barriers, it reached even to those he had to confront. When Jesus encountered a person who was sinning, he did not 模拟 or jeer or taunt the sinner. He told the woman taken in adultery to go and sin no more, but those he really confronted that day were the men intent on stoning her. 在我们的文化中, 没有人用石头砸奸夫, but some feel that it’s OK to cast stones of 模拟ery at people who experience same-sex attraction. At Westmont we do not condone sexual relations outside of marriage, but we also do not condone jeering at one another simply because our temptations differ. We know our own sinfulness and need for forgiveness all 太 well to cast stones of 模拟ery at others.

我能做些什么来改变呢?

  • 愿意学习. 作为这个小区的一员, 文理界, take advantage of the opportunity to learn from engaging with others unlike you.

  • 愿意教书. It takes courage and humility to talk about your own experience and the new ideas you’re learning without making it sound like your way is the only way. But you can’t expect others to know what it’s like to walk in your shoes unless you’re willing to teach them.

  • Recognize that the image of God doesn’t look like you alone. God’s children come from different races, 不同的种族, 不同的性别, 不同的社会阶层, 还有教会的传统. Look for God’s image in people who don’t look, think, or experience life the same way you do.

  • 寻找家族相似性. Your cousins are different from you in important ways; but there is much that you share. 神的家也是如此.

  • 检查你自己的语言. Ask yourself if you use derogatory or degrading terms in describing others.

  • Speak out against jokes or comments that demean others. Silence implies consent; when we don’t speak out against injustice we share some of the blame.

  • 和你的邻居联系一下. Remarks that strike some as just a joke may not feel like that to others. Have the courage to ask about it; and have the courage to answer honestly. If you want to develop real friendships, you can’t pretend that hurtful remarks don’t hurt.

采取行动反对不尊重 — Sometimes statements are meant to be hurtful. Recognizing such remarks as demeaning is pretty obvious. At other times, the hurt can be unintended but still very real. When we bump into someone, we apologize even though we didn’t intend any harm. 类似的, when our words hurt others we need to own up to what we’ve done, even when we didn’t mean to cause harm. And when we’ve been injured, we need to acknowledge it—to ourselves and to others.

As Christians we know what it means to repent and seek forgiveness. 每次我们祈祷主祷文, 我们求神“赦免我们的罪”, 就像我们原谅那些得罪我们的人一样.” With all that practice we should certainly know what to do when our actions hurt or offend others: repent and humbly ask forgiveness. (And that means much more than a perfunctory apology; it means a change of behavior.) As we learn by God’s grace to take redemptive action on our own, reconciliation may take place without college officials being involved. 根据圣经, we desire that conflicts be resolved as quickly as possible and, 在适当的地方, 用最少的形式. Jesus tells us to confront a sinning brother or sister one-on-one before calling in one or two others or taking the matter to the church. The college tries to honor that principle in its policies for resolving conflicts or grievances of students, 教职员工. But sometimes we’re slow to learn what it means to be God’s people; when redemptive intervention is needed, 大学官员会介入.