The Letter of Expulsion

Here I copy verbatim the letter expelling Affiliated Ministries (a consortium of Evangelical campus ministries including InterVarsity Christian Fellowship) from Georgetown University.  It is written on the letterhead of Georgetown University, Director of Campus Ministry, dated 14 August 2006:

_______________________________

Dear Affiliated Ministries:

Blessings and may God’s peace be upon you! We pray your summers have been restorative and affirming in life and ministry. The new academic year is already upon us, and we are thanking God for another year.

As we shared in conversation at the close of the Spring semester, we spent the 2005-2006 academic year evaluating many areas of Protestant Ministry’s mission and outreach at Georgetown University, including that of our Affiliated Ministries. After much laboring in prayers and conversations with ministerial leaders, Protestant Ministry has decided to move in another direction for the 2006-2007 academic year.

As a result of our new direction for the upcoming academic year, we have decided to not renew any covenant agreements with any of the Affiliated Ministries. This will become effective immediately. As any previous covenant agreements ended with the 2005-2006 academic, your ministries will no longer be allowed to hold any activity or presence (i.e. bible studies, retreats with Georgetown students, Mid-week worship services, fellowship events, move-in assistance, SAC Fair, etc.) on campus. As well, there will be no Affiliated Ministry presence or participation at our annual Campus Ministry Open House held at the end of August.

Additionally, all websites linking your ministries to a presence at Georgetown University will need to be modified to reflect the terminated relationship. Your ministries are not to publicize in any literature, media, advertisement, etc. that Georgetown University is or will be an active ministry site for your ministry/church/denomination.

While we realize this comes as a great disappointment, please know that we are moving forward with this decision only after much dialogue with the Lord. We have enjoyed working with your ministries in various capacities over the years and will always keep your ministry in our prayers.

Sincerely,

[signature]

Rev. Constance C. Wheeler

Protestant Chaplain, Team Leader

cc:

Rev. Timothy Godfrey, S. J.

Rev. Patrick D. Rogers, S. J.

Comments

[Stuart Koehl]

Yet another reason not to send money to GU.

[jquinby]

please know that we are moving forward with this decision only after much dialogue with the Lord.

Is there a transcript available? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Bill R]

Of course outlaw status for evangelical ministries will only serve to make them exotic and enticing to many GU students. You couldn't buy this type of advertising!

[Ethan Cordray]

Especially strange to me is the sentence,

"Your ministries are not to publicize in any literature, media, advertisement, etc. that Georgetown University is or will be an active ministry site for your ministry/church/denomination."

So, will Georgetown now have to be referred to as, in the in the style of Middle Eastern and Asian missionary organizations, an "Undisclosed East Coast University?"

[DGP]

Maybe one of the Affiliated Ministries was waffling on the issue of abortion. We all know that neither the Jesuits nor GU would tolerate anything less than a committed pro-life stance among its ministers.

[Tony Cirri]

Did they throw out the Muslims too, or only the Christians. I find this a peculiar stance from a Catholic University. I was under the assumption that the Catholic Church was to reach out in love to other Christian denominations. It sure seems that way if you read the Vatican II documents. Maybe Georgetown is a pick and choose Catholic University.

[Stuart Koehl]

>>>Did they throw out the Muslims too, or only the Christians. <<<

Are you kidding? Do you know the size of Georgetown's Saudi endowments?

[Matthew]

You can send an E-mail to Rev. Wheeler through this link. I already have.

[Friedrich Nietzsche]

Are you kidding? Do you know the size of Georgetown's Saudi endowments?

No, I don't. Do you? Do you have a source for your information?

[Stuart Koehl]

>>>Are you kidding? Do you know the size of Georgetown's Saudi endowments?

No, I don't. Do you? Do you have a source for your information?<<<

Get the Alumni Bulletin.

[Ken Peirce]

This doesn't seem to be consistent with their own website.
http://explore.georgetown.edu/documents/?DocumentID=736

"Worship Services. Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim worship takes place on campus in services organized by the Office of Campus Ministry and student groups. Bible studies, daily retreats, and Sunday worship services in the Protestant tradition take place on campus. The Jewish Student Association and the Jewish Ministry staff hold a Shabbat dinner each Friday. A Muslim prayer room in Copley Hall is used for Islamic prayer and worship daily and there is a large Muslim community worship service each Friday. On Tuesdays, there is an Orthodox prayer service on Tuesday evenings in Copley Crypt.

Interfaith and Ecumenical Liturgies. Interfaith opportunities are an integral part of campus life at Georgetown. In addition to specific faith services, the Office of Campus Ministry provides opportunities for interfaith prayer and dialogue throughout the school year. Events include interfaith dialogues, Hallelujah Shabbat, Interfaith Seder, an interfaith art exhibit, and the Interfaith Baccalaureate Service."

We await further information on the reasons for this expulsion but I am sure it was not because God spoke to them.

Ken

[Broken Messenger]

I find it signficant that "Lord" and "God" are often reference in this letter and not Jesus Christ so the question then becomes: What "God" was dialogued with in making this decision. Also, given that their literature still claims that Bible studies occur on campus and in the Protestant realm to boot, I hope that GU will ammend their literature consistent to what they have required of these pastors.

Brad

[Ethan Cordray]

I can't believe they forgot to mention Interfaith Lupercalia, the Interfaith Mithraeum, or Interfaith Daily Huitzilopochtli Sacrifices! How narrow minded!

[Scott Walker]

Okay, so we can have Muslim and Jewish worship on the campus of an alleged Catholic university, but we can't have Evangelical Christian worship. And after dialogue with God, no less. The mind reels. Ichabod.

[Jesse]

Is this just an old mainline Protestant (represented by Rev. Constance of the African Methodist Episcopal wing) battle with para-eclessial-community Evangelicals? Perhaps as a compromise, she might negotiate some new "coventant agreements" with some Emergent chaplains after the appropriate delusional dialogue of course.

[margaret]

Funny how the little things hit you. "Mid-week" is capitalized, but "Bible" gets lower case.

[Don Bosch (evaneco.com)]

The "Rev. Constance" says it all.

[Don Bosch (evaneco.com)]

The "Rev. Constance" says it all. Darn evangelicals are too patriarchal.

[Larry]

It does seem to me to be more of a "Protestant" issue. It does seem to me to be more a battle over defining what Protestant presence would look like on campus. The very fact that there was this grouping of Evangelical campus ministries at least shows a tendency already to keep things simple, kind of like in Europe: There are Catholics, there are Evangelicals (Protestant) and there are Jews and there are Muslims.
But I don't know if this is something to get all huffy about. My University experience would have been much more pleasant and I could have witnessed much more clearly to traditional and historic Christianity had there not been all these parachurch organizations trying to convince me and everyone else on campus that we were going to hell. Inter-varsity was the least inocuous.
But there is hypocrisy here but only in that it was a decicsion probably made out of a concern for diversity and tolerance. Its really what is not said here, and I think the difficulty of "Campus Ministry" why that is a separate concern of denominations and Christians astounds me. I didn't want "Campus Minsitries" I wanted a church when I was in college. Its all a farce anyway.

[Tripp]

Well, well. That is entertaining. I'll admit that this was not the most politically astute letter ever penned. Oy. I will ask that the issue of the Pastor's gender not be an issue here. Lord knows we men can get stupid. But that is an aside...

InterVarsity and Campus Crusade were ministries on my campus in last century. They were constantly being reigned in simply because they kept trying to evangelize other Christian groups and this was against the expressed guidelines of their contracts with the campus ministry folk and the University. They would go to the Campus Catholic Union and try to get people to renounce sin and Popery. They would go to the Baptist Student Union to check for our "baptismal certificates." Heh.

So, this is a bad letter. But I would be interested in the conversations that occurred before all this. I find it hard to imagine that this was the beginning and the end of a conversation.

[Daniel C.]

My 2 cents: This has little, if anything, to do with the banned organization's evangelizing practices and much to do the groups' political orientation. Why else would interfaith worship remains at GU, but InterVarsity Christian Fellowship be out? I'd have the folks at FIRE - Foundation for Individual Rights in Education(http://www.thefire.org/) look into this.

[smh]

For those who would like a transcript, I received mine (a PDF image of the actual letter) from my friend Kevin Offner, the IVCF guy at Georgetown. I'm sure he'd be glad to send one to anyone who requests it. He may be contacted through InterVarsity at http://www.intervarsity.org/chapters/contact.php?id=2036

Those those who think this is just a Protestant thing are welcome to wait with Pastor Niemoller until they are come for.

[Little Gidding]

If GU is supposed to be a Catholic University, how could a Protestant clergyperson be the Head of Campus Ministries and be speaking on behalf of the University about what religious practices are acceptable on campus? Wheels within wheels within wheels.

[David Gray]

>I will ask that the issue of the Pastor's gender not be an issue here.

Why? A man who is clergy may or may not accept God's authority but a woman who is in clergy has inherently defined herself as in rebellion.

[Stuart Koehl]

>>>If GU is supposed to be a Catholic University, how could a Protestant clergyperson be the Head of Campus Ministries and be speaking on behalf of the University about what religious practices are acceptable on campus? <<<

It frees the Jebbies from their onerous pastoral duties, allowing them time to do what they do best.

[Stuart Koehl]

>>>They would go to the Campus Catholic Union and try to get people to renounce sin and Popery. <<<

Well, at Georgetown, they'd get the one, but not the other.

[Martha]

There is an article online at First Things about this very story:

http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=437

I have no idea what is going on here, but if you believe Mr Bottum's take on the matter, it looks like infighting amongst the Protestant organisations, with Campus Ministries using the excuse of 'this is a Catholic university' to dislodge the evangelical groups.

I don't know what the Georgetown University authorities think of this, or if they agree, or if they left the Protestant groups to make their own agreements among themselves and now it's blown up in their faces - they're getting painted as Big Bad Papists kicking off evangelical Protestant groups.

As I said, I have no idea what is really going on, but the whole thing does seem odd.

[JackONeill]

SMH: Who would be coming to get us? Reverend Constance? Lawdy day! Please tell us what has been lost by Reverend Constance's telling this group that they have been superceded by some other group, as yet not described, but presumably still composed of evangelicals of some kind. While it may sound like Reverend Constance is trying out her muscles, I will bet a nickel that this is being done for some vanishingly trivial reason.

[Stuart Koehl]

>>>I don't know what the Georgetown University authorities think of this<<<

Most probably, the don't.

[David Fischler]

Please tell us what has been lost by Reverend Constance's telling this group that they have been superceded by some other group, as yet not described, but presumably still composed of evangelicals of some kind.

This is an assumption (as well as an inaccuracy--it's six groups, not one). There's nothing in this letter to indicate that evangelical students will be served in any way by like-minded campus ministry people (especially since I doubt seriously that there any any evangelicals employed by the campus ministry). Nor is there any indication that any other group will do so. I suspect that they are trying to force Protestant students who are serious about their faith into the embrace of official campus ministry, regardless of their desire, so that they can be suitably re-educated.

I'm with Daniel C. I wouldn't be surprised if a single letter from FIRE referencing the unfortunate legal consequences of trying to ban off-campus groups in a discriminatory way and restricting the religious freedom and associational rights of college students would get these people to back off, not matter what the Lord might have told them.

[Bruce C. Meyer]

I've invited Rev. Constance to respond on my blog, beinghumaninfaithartscience. We'll see.

[Milton]

Daniel, if you have the transcript as you say, "For those who would like a transcript, I received mine (a PDF image of the actual letter) from my friend Kevin Offner, the IVCF guy at Georgetown.", then that is most remarkable! Because the "transcript" the commenter referred to:
------------------------------------------------
Posted by: Stuart Koehl | Aug 27, 2006 3:02:35 PM

please know that we are moving forward with this decision only after much dialogue with the Lord.

Is there a transcript available? Inquiring minds want to know.

-------------------------------------------------
was of this:
(from Rev. Constance Wheeler's letter)
"While we realize this comes as a great disappointment, please know that we are moving forward with this decision only after much dialogue with the Lord."

I wonder how such a transcript would read? Like Job? Or like Gideon's fleece? Or Abraham pleading with the LORD to spare Sodom? Hmmm...

[Fr. Timothy Smith]

My guess on what is going on at Georgetown...

Affiliated Ministries (e.g., Inter-Varsity, Campus Crusade, et alia) are, I believe, asked to sign a covenant promising, among other things, to make nice and not engage in 'proselytizing'.

In other words... evangelistsic activities to 'win students to [the Protestant version of] Christ' are deemed INTOLERANT. A mortal sin today, doncha know!

This ban appears to combine both a power move by the mainline-types running Protestant ministry at Georgetown as well as a further entrenchment of the idea that Christians who talk about [capital-T] Truth are a threat to civic life.

Slowly but ever-increasingly, liberal elites in America will marginalize orthodox Christians of all stripes as dangerous 'fundamentalists'.

[James A. Altena]

Jack O'Neill,

Your comment to Dr. Hutchens misses his point. Once the ecclesiastical revisionist Gestapo types decide to start hunting people out, they will not stop with just one group, and sooner or later you will be a target too. Do you not know Martin Niemoller's famous words that SMH references? (By coincidnece I posted them on another "Mere Comments" blog a day or two ago.)

[Steve Cavanaugh]

Those of us who have studied in Washington would not think of Georgetown first as the Catholic University in town. That honor would go to CUA in the Northeast part of the city. However, in interest of fairness, there are some misconceptions in the comments above. Rev. Wheeler is not the head of campus ministry, she is the head of Protestant campus ministry at Georgetown. The list of Protestant chaplains (employed and resident) follows:

Rev. Constance Wheeler
a graduate of Howard University School of Divinity, ordained itinerant elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, leads Protestant Worship in the Gospel tradition

Rev. Michael Brenneis
no biographical info

Min. LaKendra Hardware
M.Div. from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University (Richmond, VA). LaKendra is a licensed Baptist minister

Rev. Ridgeway Addison
doctoral candidate in Spirituality at Catholic University of America working to finish his dissertation on the American Protestant mystic and theologian Howard Thurman (1899-1981), an ordained Baptist minister

Min. E. Missy Daniels
associate minister at Metropolitan Baptist Church; enrolled in the masters of divinity program at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC.

Rev. Arlene Franks
an ordained pastor in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Master's Degree in Religion from Claremont (California) School of Theology and a Master's of Divinity from Eden Theological Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri

Rev. E. Terri LaVelle
an Associate Minister at Metropolitan Baptist Church of Washington, DC and Program Director for The Faith & Politics Institute a non-profit, bi-partisan, interfaith organization on Capitol Hill , Master of Arts in Theological Studies from McCormick Theological Seminary

I don't know the Protestant seminaries well enough to guess at the relevant theological leaning likely in the graduates, but perhaps some of you folks do. The Protestant worship schedule at Georgetown is below. Note that it does include Bible Study, so that the paraministries' exodus does not do away with that, although it might well be doing away with a more diverse approach to reading scripture than was the case before.

Sunday Worship & Weekly Bible Study:

Effective 2005-2006 Academic Year (excluding academic holidays)

3 PM "Eucharist in the Liturgical Protestant Tradition"
Rev. Michael Brenneis
Weekly Bible Study, Wednesdays, 8:30 PM (110 Healy Hall)
  Includes Prayer, Bible Study/Reflection, Fellowship with Pizza.

6 PM "Worship in the Gospel Tradition"
Rev. Constance Wheeler
Weekly Bible Study, Tuesdays, 9 PM (110 Healy Hall)
  Includes Prayer, Bible Study, Life Discussions, Snacks.

8:30 PM "Protestant Worship & Communion"
Min. LaKendra Hardware
Weekly Bible Study, Thursdays, 7:30 PM (110 Healy Hall)
  Includes various topic studies chosen each semester.

[David Fischler]

Steve: with the exception of the doctoral candidate at CUA (whose M.Div would help), everyone else listed graduated from a certifiably liberal seminary. Indeed, the affiliations of the Protestant chaplains (1 AME, 1 Disciple, 4 Baptists) show a serious lack of diversity considering Georgetown is a school that supposedly values same.

[Stephanie]

As to the last comment, Steve, the entire protestant ministry has been restructured (though the website has not), and so your info is not up to date. There will be two Protestant services instead of three, and one Bible study instead of three, and the Bible study will be taught by Rev. Wheeler, whereas the affiliated ministries had student-led Bible studies.

I may comment more extensively later, and if anyone has any specific questions to ask me, please do. There have been a great many misconceptions in this situation. As a student leader in 'the group formerly known as InterVarsity' at GU, I may be able to provide some insight.

[Stuart Koehl]

>>>Those of us who have studied in Washington would not think of Georgetown first as the Catholic University in town.<<<

As I have mentioned before, GU is not Catholic, it's Jesuit.

[Daniel C.]

With all due respect, Mr. Koehl, your constant refrain that Jesuits are not Catholic is rather tiresome. You clearly have many disagreements with Jesuits, but they are part of the Catholic Church, whether you like it or not. It is starting to read like a Missouri Synod Lutheran declaring that other Christians who are not part of the LCMS aren’t Christian. It was mildly amusing the first few times you wrote it in this thread. Now it is starting to read like the rantings of a cranky old Rad Trad ™.

[Stuart Koehl]

>>>With all due respect, Mr. Koehl, your constant refrain that Jesuits are not Catholic is rather tiresome.<<<

But it is pretty accurate.

[Caldonia Sun]

Well, hey, after "much dialogue with the Lord," what else can one do but obey?

Tongue firmly planted,
Caldonia Sun

[Stuart Koehl]

>>>Well, hey, after "much dialogue with the Lord," what else can one do but obey?<<<

I'm surprised the Lord could get a word in edgewise.

[Stuart Koehl]

This in from The American Spectator Online this morning:

Religious "Diversity" at Georgetown
By Joseph M. Knippenberg
Published 8/31/2006 12:06:50 AM

Just before the beginning of the fall semester, officials from Georgetown University's Office of Campus Ministry met with representatives of six evangelical parachurch organizations and handed them a letter, informing them they were no longer welcome on campus. "[Y]our ministries," they were told, "will no longer be allowed to hold any activity or presence (i.e. bible studies, retreats with Georgetown students, Mid-week worship services, fellowship events, move-in assistance, SAC Fair, etc.) on campus. As well, there will be no Affiliated Ministry presence or participation at our annual Campus Ministry Open House held at the end of August." What's more, "Your ministries are not to publicize in any literature, media, advertisement, etc. that Georgetown University is or will be an active ministry site for your ministry/church/denomination." Henceforth chaplains employed by the University will minister to the spiritual needs of the thousand or so Georgetown students who self-identify as Protestants.

For evangelicals, Georgetown looks kind of like a domestic version of China, with officially-recognized and monitored worship services conducted by employees of the state church and "house churches" operating secretively at the margins.

I exaggerate, of course. Nothing prevents students from praying and studying Scripture together informally, on or off campus, and they're free to worship where they please. It's just that they can no longer do so under the auspices of groups -- like the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship -- that had long been active on campus.

The contrarian in me is actually tempted to defend the University. After all, there are two kinds of religious freedom at stake here. One is captured in the allusion to China: individuals ought to be free to worship when and where and how they please. Appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, Georgetown isn't really abridging that freedom.

The other is the freedom of a group or institution to cultivate its religious identity without undue interference from the state. By centralizing control over formal worship and religious activity on campus, Georgetown could be said to be pursuing its religious mission and promoting its religious vision. As a University spokesman told reporters, this move came from "a desire in the Protestant chaplaincy to build the ministry from within Georgetown and its Protestant student leaders rather than rely on outside groups or fellowships." This would produce "a more consistent and focused effort" for students.

Sounds great, but what exactly is Georgetown's religious identity and mission? According to its founder, Father John Carroll, S.J., as the university conveys his views today:
The school was, in the emerging tradition of American religious tolerance, to be open to "every class of citizens" and students of "every religious profession."

Carroll saw Georgetown as an academically rigorous Catholic academy with a diverse student body. The vision of John Carroll continues to be realized today in a distinctive educational institution -- a national University rooted in the Catholic faith and Jesuit tradition, committed to spiritual inquiry, engaged in the public sphere, and invigorated by religious and cultural pluralism.

The Campus Ministry fulfills this mission by providing support to a designedly religiously diverse student body. In particular,
Protestant Ministry provides a welcoming environment for undergraduate, graduate, and other members of the university community to grow in their faith and share their spiritual journey with other Christians.

The Protestant Ministry serves a diverse community, honoring the religious traditions of its members while affirming their oneness in Christ.

While the University celebrates its Catholic and Jesuit roots, it seems almost equally proud of its commitment to pluralism and diversity.

To fulfill that commitment to its Protestant population, the University employs seven Protestant chaplains (not all of them full-time). Four are Baptist (three black and one white); the others are ordained in the Episcopal, A.M.E., and Christian (Disciples of Christ) churches. While some of them might pass as evangelical, none looks plausibly like a theologically conservative evangelical.

That they weren't adequately serving the needs of some evangelical students is clear enough. After all, a few hundred of them were active in the recently expelled parachurch groups. Kevin Offner, who works with IVCF, put it this way: "It's not that our students hate [the official Protestant chaplains]. This just isn't how they want to worship, and we don't all worship the same way." Recent alumna Alyson Thoner told World Net Daily that campus ministry doesn't "encompass the full range of diversity of the Protestant faith at Georgetown."

You'd think that a university genuinely committed to meeting the diverse spiritual needs of all its students would want to cooperate with parachurch groups, whose efforts would extend the reach of the Campus Ministry. But you can't help get the impression that Georgetown's commitment to diversity doesn't go so far as to encompass those really different theologically and morally conservative faith commitments.

I suppose you might defend the University by saying that the conservative evangelical groups don't play well with others. Rather than embracing and celebrating diversity as a good in itself, rather than modestly contributing their own little flavor to the multicultural stew, they, er, evangelize, which requires, of course, that they believe that they have something (universally) good and true to share.

There's the root of Georgetown's conflict with its erstwhile evangelical affiliates. It demands that everyone subscribe wholeheartedly to a thoroughgoingly pluralistic vision and suspects that the evangelicals don't.

Let me state it another way. Georgetown's evangelicals are practical or pragmatic pluralists. They experience and negotiate the intellectual, moral, and religious differences that characterize life on a contemporary university campus. They know that there will be disagreement and that all they can do is share the Word and let their lights shine. They cannot and would not compel anyone to accept even what they regard as a saving truth.

But that's apparently not good enough for the authorities at Georgetown, who seem to want everyone to love pluralism with all their hearts, souls, and minds. Of course, if everyone affirms pluralism in this way, what you really end up with is a kind of deep uniformity, not genuine pluralism at all. Yes, there are differences, but everyone regards them as accidental and superficial, not worth shouting about, let alone (perish the thought!) fighting over.

Perhaps, in the end, Georgetown does have a religious mission that's inconsistent with the goals pursued by the evangelical parachurch groups. Ironically, it's not a traditionally Catholic or Christian mission. It's even hard to distinguish it from those articulated by its moralistic and action-oriented secular counterparts. In its commitment to "deep" (but really shallow) pluralism, Georgetown University looks likes it has become just another school.

Joseph M. Knippenberg is professor of politics at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta.

[Bill R]

Thanks, Stuart. Knippenberg's article really does say it all. How ironic that schools that were once Christian in orientation have now become mission fields!

[Stuart Koehl]

Meanwhile, what else goes on at Georgetown? Joel Mowbray fills us in:

Georgetown professor mentors “martyrdom” supporter
By Joel Mowbray
Friday, September 1, 2006

Months after Karen Hughes assumed the role of diplomat-at-large to the Muslim world, she told Time magazine that one of her two key influences on understanding Islam was Georgetown Prof. John Esposito. She’s not alone. The FBI has repeatedly consulted him, and much of academia holds him in high regard.

But when he’s not busy shaping U.S. policy toward the Muslim world, Prof. Esposito mentors a man who wishes he could be a suicide bomber and who recently (and publicly) reinforced his support for “martyrdom.” He has collaborated on two books with Dr. Azzam Tamimi, and he still maintains a close relationship with him to this day.

Despite rubbing elbows with elites in government and academe, Esposito’s mentoring of an avowed “martyrdom” supporter actually fits in line with his overall record. He has publicly defended known advocates of Islamic terrorism, and although he was considered a leading expert on political Islam in the 1990’s, he was downplaying the threat posed by the Taliban and bin Laden right up until 9/11.

Still-solid reputation

While Esposito has long courted controversy—most recently when the Georgetown-based center he founded in 1993 accepted $20 million last year from (and took the name of) a notorious Saudi prince—he has somehow been able to maintain a relatively high reputation in academic and government circles.

That Esposito is still largely respected owes to the subtlety of his apologism. He acknowledges that there is radicalism in Islam, and he generally avoids defending the likes of Hamas and Hezbollah. Even as he argues for engaging Islamists, he does so without overtly endorsing their worldview. But Prof. Esposito skillfully minimizes the threat posed by radical Islam, and as demonstrated by his close affiliation with Dr. Tamimi, who told a massive crowd in the UK last week that “dying for your beliefs is just,” he willingly associates with avowed cheerleaders of Islamic terrorism.

Esposito’s defenders—and there are many—claim that his critics conflate his practical advice that Islamists cannot simply be ignored with apologism for radical Islam. While such an answer may be appealing for those who believe in giving the benefit of the doubt, it simply doesn’t square with the facts.

Although Esposito is less transparent than most apologists for radical Islam, the Georgetown scholar is more than a mere apologist. He defends supporters of Islamic terrorism. He even mentors them.

Downplaying the Taliban

Though most Americans before 9/11 were not aware of the Taliban or the threat they posed, there were a significant number of experts warning about the ascendancy of the so-called religious students movement in Afghanistan. Esposito was not one of them.

A Nexis search reveals that between bylines and quotes, Esposito’s name appeared over 200 times between 1994, the year the Taliban first emerged, and September 10, 2001. Only a handful of times did he mention the Islamic tyrants, and just once did he say something that could be deemed critical. In a quote, he called the Taliban “radical.” That was it.

Despite being listed in an August 2000 Associated Press article as a “specialist in Asiatic Islam,” he did nothing to warn policymakers about the dangers of the Taliban. Quite the opposite, in fact. But it wasn’t just the Taliban he downplayed. Esposito was the most vocal advocate of embracing, rather than fearing, Islamist movements that started gaining traction in the early 1990’s.

His 1992 book “The Islamic Threat : Myth or Reality?” unsurprisingly comes down mostly on the side of “myth.” The closing paragraph concludes: “Islam and most Islamic movements are not necessarily anti-Western, anti-American, or anti-democratic. ... they do not necessarily threaten American interests. Our challenge is to better understand the history and realities of the Muslim world.” As Daniel Pipes noted in a Wall Street Journal review of the book, Esposito even recommended that U.S. foreign policy should “be carried on in the context in which ideological differences between the West and Islam are recognized and, to the greatest extent possible, accepted or at least tolerated.”

At a time when others were sounding the alarm about the well-documented brutality of the Taliban, Esposito was urging for calm. In a lengthy Commonweal article in September 1997, Esposito dedicated 4,000 words to extolling “the richness and diversity of the Muslim experience.” The only reference to the Taliban was in the opening, where he implied that the capture of Kabul had received far too much attention.

In what was somehow not a career-killer, Esposito—shortly before 9/11—argued that bin Laden was not nearly as great a threat as advertised, that his danger was needlessly hyped by the media. From the issue of Fletcher Forum of World Affairs that was still on newsstands on September 11, here is Esposito in his own words:

“Bin Laden is the best thing that has come along, if you are an intelligence officer, if you are an authoritarian regime, or if you want to paint Islamist activism as a threat. There’s a danger in making Bin Laden the poster boy of global terrorism, and not realizing that there are a lot of other forces involved in global terrorism. Bin Laden has become the new symbol, following in the footsteps of Qaddafi, Khomeini, and Sheikh Omar Abdur Rahman. Bin Laden is a perfect media symbol: He’s tall, gaunt, striking, and always has a Kalashnikov with him. As long as we focus on these images we continue to see Islam and Islamic activism through the prism of ayatollahs and Iran, of Bin Laden and the Afghan Arabs.”

Defending known terror supporters

While he merely downplays the threat posed by Islamic terrorists, Esposito has openly lauded terror supporters. The Georgetown academic has lavished praise on two in particular: former University of South Florida professor (and convicted terrorist) Sami al-Arian, and al-Jazeera phenomenon Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

When USF moved to fire al-Arian in April 2002, Esposito wrote to the university’s president that he was “stunned, astonished, and saddened.” While naysayers point to acquittals he received on a number of charges, al-Arian pleaded guilty after the trial, admitting that he was, in fact, a key leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. But even before the admission that was an Islamic terrorist, al-Arian was indisputably an avowed Islamic radical long before 9/11. Among other examples, the former USF professor played host in the early- to mid-90’s to some of the most notorious jihadists in the world, all of which was well-documented by the Tampa Tribune and in the 1994 PBS documentary “Jihad in America” by Steven Emerson.

In other words, the public record on al-Arian was more than well-enough established as of April 2002 that there was simply no way that Esposito could have been “stunned” or “astonished.”

Even more troubling is the affection Prof. Esposito has displayed for Sheikh Qaradawi. In 2003, he fawned over Qaradawi’s “reformist interpretation of Islam and its relationship to democracy, pluralism and human rights.” The famous cleric, though, has issued fatwas endorsing suicide bombings in Israel and has said that those who kill Americans in Iraq are “martyrs” with “good intentions.” Qaradawi also supports the killing of homosexuals or anyone who has converted away from Islam.

With neither al-Arian nor Qaradawi does Esposito have any plausible deniability. Both his defenses of those terror supporters were not isolated, according to counterterrorism consultant Daveed Gartenstein-Ross. “Esposito has committed himself to general apologetics for Islamist movements, minimizing or completely ignoring the hateful rhetoric and ideas embodied in and expressed by these groups.”

Nowhere is this more true than with his still un-severed relationship with his protégé, Azzam Tamimi.

Tamimi’s teacher and partner

Since Tamimi’s stirring support for “martyrdom” in Manchester, Britain last week, Esposito has been curiously silent. He refused repeated requests by this columnist for comment. Esposito shouldn’t be expected to criticize every radical statement made by a fellow professor, but he has a duty to speak up when the academic in question is inextricably linked to him.

Scholar Martin Kramer, who has done more careful analysis of both men than anyone, goes one step further, saying in an interview for this column that Esposito has done a great deal to raise his protégé’s profile by “manufacturing Tamimi’s credentials as an academic author.”

In 2000, Esposito co-edited with Tamimi a book called “Islam and Secularism.” The next year, Tamimi published a biography of Tunisian Islamist Rachid Ghannouchi, which was part of a series edited by Esposito. In the book’s introduction, Tamimi calls Esposito his “ustadh,” or teacher.

Even after Tamimi’s repeated support for the Islamic terrorist groups such as the Taliban and Hamas, Esposito still sits on the board of advisors of the Institute for Islamic Political Thought, founded and run by Tamimi, who confirmed this fact during a phone interview. He’s had multiple opportunities when comments by Tamimi should have prompted his resignation. None did.

A November 2001 Spanish newspaper article about an interview with Dr. Tamimi was titled, “I admire the Taliban; they are courageous.” The following July at a speech in South Africa, Dr. Tamimi paid stirring tribute to “martyrs” who blow themselves up. Then in 2004, Dr. Tamimi expressed to the BBC his desire to become a suicide bomber: “If I can go to Palestine and sacrifice myself I would do it.”

What’s most disconcerting about the case of Tamimi is not that someone who studied under and later worked with Esposito could turn out to be so noxious. It’s that someone like Tamimi almost certainly could not have kept hidden his real—and deeply-held—beliefs from his mentor and collaborator.

In two separate phone interviews, Tamimi was quite freewheeling. Though he gave the standard disclaimer that “any killing of innocent people is unacceptable,” he quickly clarified—or rather, contradicted—his statement. When asked if this applies to “innocent people in Israel,” he responded, “Palestine is a special case.” How so? “It is legitimate for the Palestinians to fight the Israelis who are occupying their land.” Does this apply to Americans and Brits killed in Iraq? “Of course it holds true in Iraq.”

Tamimi’s only testy moment during either interview came when asked if it was morally acceptable to kill Americans who are only in Iraq to rebuild things like roads and schools. He snapped, “It is not my responsibility to tell the Iraqi people who they can kill or not.”

To put it gently, Tamimi is not afraid to express radical views to a stranger, or for that matter, to 8,000 people in Manchester. It raises the question: What kind of venom has he spewed privately to Esposito?

Better yet, what has Esposito said back?

Copyright © 2006 Salem Web Network. All Rights Reserved.

[Matthew]

I received an E-mail reply from Rev. Timothy Godfrey this evening if anyone is interested. I can't remember what I wrote, but if I know anything about myself I'm pretty sure it wasn't entire full of grace but his response was:

Thank you for your communication regarding the Affiliated Ministries. The recent decision by Campus Ministry not to renew this year’s covenant agreements with Protestant Affiliated Ministries has generated both confusion and concern. In order to address the ongoing questions that have arisen, it is important to clarify a few points, to describe how we plan to move forward and to provide some background for the current situation.

First, Campus Ministry’s decision does not restrict the rights of students to participate either on or off campus in the religious organizations of their choice. Students retain the right to invite religious organizations on campus for prayer and fellowship. However, at this time, these formerly affiliated groups do not function under the auspices of Campus Ministry.

Second, in order to explore how we can move forward, next week Reverend Philip Boroughs, S.J., Vice President for Mission and Ministry, will announce the formation of a University Advisory Committee to review the current resources and structures of our Protestant Chaplaincy to meet the needs of our Protestant community. This committee will be comprised of University faculty, Campus Ministers, students and off-campus leaders who will assist Campus Ministry in addressing our current situation and in designing a future model for ministry in keeping with Georgetown values.

Third, Campus Ministry chaplains will continue to meet with interested students and others affected by this decision to listen to their concerns and identify current needs. Several listening sessions with specific groups already have occurred. In addition, Campus Ministry has reorganized its staff and is revising its programming to address students’ needs.

To understand the context for the current situation, some background is helpful. The mission of Campus Ministry at Georgetown University has two goals. The first is to foster and promote the Catholic and Jesuit identity of the University, and in keeping with that mission, to create an environment that respects the different religious traditions that are represented in our University community. The Campus Ministry Staff is composed of Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim chaplains who offer worship services, programming, retreats, and other events to support our students’ growth in their respective traditions.

The second goal of Campus Ministry is to foster engagement between and among the many religious traditions embraced by members of our community as part of Georgetown’s commitment to promote ecumenical and interreligious understanding. Following the directives of the Society of Jesus and the call of the Second Vatican Council to recognize God’s presence in diverse religious traditions, Campus Ministry sees the development of interfaith dialogue as one way of preparing students to live in a complex global community. Pope John Paul II reminded us that through dialogue we deepen our religious commitment and gain “a clearer sense of the oneness of the human family.” Clearly, achieving the delicate balance needed to support the integrity of individual traditions on our campus while promoting a community of interreligious engagement is a worthy and sometimes challenging goal.

Campus Ministry has attended to the needs of our Protestant students through worship services, events, Bible studies, and retreats offered by our Protestant Chaplaincy. In addition, because of the diverse theological and liturgical needs of our students, we have entered into partnership with a variety of Christian churches and national organizations that have come to campus and offered similar programming and fellowship. These partnerships were known as Affiliated Ministries and were confirmed by the annual signing of a covenant agreement.

Over the years, the programming and worship services offered by these Affiliated Ministries have assisted our students in their spiritual growth and development. But it has also been the case that Campus Ministry has experienced ongoing difficulties in communication and cooperation with these outside organizations. The result has been fragmentation between student groups and the inability to gather our Protestant students on occasion for ecumenical worship and dialogue while acknowledging distinct theological differences. This past year it became increasingly clear that the structure of our relationship with Affiliated Ministries was ineffective in promoting dialogue regarding our values. Consequently, the decision was made not to renew the covenants this year.

We recognize the pain this decision has caused. Hopefully, we can use this time of review and evaluation to envision a more effective structure for serving our Protestant students in keeping with our University values.

Thank you for your interest and concern.

Sincerely,

Reverend Timothy S. Godfrey, S.J.

[Stuart Koehl]

>>>However, at this time, these formerly affiliated groups do not function under the auspices of Campus Ministry. <<<

Meaning they will find it difficult to secure faclities, get logistical support and financial underwriting for such things as books, flyers, handouts and even simple announcement that services will take place. This is called "being nibbled to death by ducks".

>>>This past year it became increasingly clear that the structure of our relationship with Affiliated Ministries was ineffective in promoting dialogue regarding our values.<<<

"They were Christians, we were Jesuits. There was no way we could ever get along."