thing one has a “right” to do might notrnbe right to do fell on deaf ears; and asrnthe pressure mounted, the board consideredrnasking the college president tornissue a “cease-and-desist” order againstrnFather Anthony Ugolnik, professor ofrnEnglish.rnA small group of faculty members unpackedrnthe problem in the pages of ourrncollege’s newspaper, urging that studentsrnthink about the implications of turningrnChristians into a free-fire zone. At thernvery least, this struck many as yet anotherrnexample of the double standard: whatrnwas unthinkable with regard to blacks orrnhomosexuals or other protected groupsrn(imagine the furor that would justifiablyrnarise over a painting of Minister LouisrnFarrakhan altered so that he now sportedrna handkerchief head and Aunt Jemimarnapron) was defensible, under the FirstrnAmendment, when directed at Christians.rnWhy? Partly because many facultyrnmembers harbor deep prejudicesrnagainst believers (try to imagine how embarrassedrnsuch folks would be if Scripturernwere cited during a faculty meeting),rnand partly because the fanaticismrnof the Christian right is a handy sourcernfor generalized contempt. So great arernthese worries that, oddly enough, therncollege chaplain (Barbara Brummett)rndeclined to support an effort to get Edelman’srnoffensive poster moved from itsrnpermanent mounting—all of which leftrnothers to wonder just what assault to herrnChristian faith might provoke a response.rnFor those who put their names—andrnprobably their collegial reputations—onrnthe line, the issue boiled down to this:rnthe Women’s Center regularly invitesrnmembers of the community to joinrnthem in a wide variety of programs. Thernsigners made it clear that they applaudedrnthese efforts to bring a wider understandingrnof contemporary feminism tornthe community, just as they felt thatrnraising public consciousness about therncontributions of women was an altogetherrnappropriate activity for a Women’srnCenter. What they couldn’t understand,rnhowever, is why the same peoplernwho would rightly deplore insensitivityrndirected toward women, African-Americans,rnHispanics, gavs and lesbians, orrnother groups should themselves offendrnChristians. What harm has the Christianrncommunity at Franklin and MarshallrnCollege done to them that wouldrnwarrant such behavior?rnThe implications of this sad situationrnare, of course, not limited to the collegernwhere I teach, nor are they limited tornChristians alone. I, for example, happenrnto be Jewish, and if history has taught thernJews anything, it is that when one grouprnsuffers at the hands of injustice, the Jewsrnare not likely to be far behind. But therntruth of the matter is that anyone whorntruly cares about the words we keep hearingrnon our campuses—diversity, caring,rnand tolerance—should be equally concerned.rnUnless, of course, Christian sensitivitiesrndon’t matter. I count myselfrnamong the believers, and, as such, I simplyrncannot believe that such an unworthyrnposition is true.rnSanford Pinsker is Shadek Professor ofrnHumanities at Franklin and MarshallrnCollege and executive director of AcademicrnQuestions, a publication of thernNational Association of Scholars.rnDemonizing thernOrthodoxrnby John CarluccirnIteach seventh- and eighth-graders atrnthe St. George Orthodox ChurchrnSchool in West Roxbury, Massachusetts,rna purely volunteer task that takes 45 minutesrnout of my Sunday and two hours outrnof the rest of the week. The school,rnwhich extends from kindergarten torngrade 12, is attached to St. George’srnChurch, the Antiochian Orthodoxrnparish for Greater Boston, numberingrnnearly 1,400 souls. At this, the juniorrnhigh level, the kids study Church history,rna subject for which my degree in Byzantinernhistory qualifies me.rnMy youngsters are typical Americanrnteenagers. Well, maybe not. They go tornchurch every Sunday, and the’ are acti’crnin such church-sponsored programs asrnTeen SOYO (Society of Young Orthodox)rnand Antiochian Village, the jurisdiction’srnlargest summer camp. So,rnwhile their religious activities distinguishrnthem, they are like other Christianrnteenagers in America. They like theirrnpizza parties and their rock music, evenrnas they also enjoy their Byzantine chant.rnWe had just begun discussing the missionaryrnactivities of the Church to thernbarbarians during the early Middle Agesrnwhen President Clinton committedrnAmerican forces to Bosnia. By the timernyou read this, we will have a pretty goodrnidea of how that military action is goingrnto go, whether the occupation will bernpeaceful or combative, and whom Americansrnwill be fighting if they must.rnAt the time of this writing, however,rnthese were still mysteries, and, responsiblernfor the welfare of my students as OrthodoxrnChristians, I faced a problem.rnShould I mention that imminent armedrnintervention of the United States in thernaffairs of an Orthodox people, namely,rnthe Bosnian Serbs? I decided I must.rnBut how to handle it? Should I aimrnnot to editorialize, hewing closely to officialrnpropaganda that Americans werernthere to keep the peace and that therernwould be equal treatment for all Bosniansrnby American forces, regardless of religionrnor ethnicity? Or should I tell therntruth, that the Bosnian Serbs are portrayedrnby the American press as ferociousrnsavages, killers of mothers and infants,rnrapists of teenage girls like those in myrnclassroom, all to justify the violent suppression,rnby American and NATO internationalistrnimperialism, of the Serbs’rnright to national self-determination?rnOr should I take advantage of thisrnevent to illuminate Orthodox history forrnthese kids? That is what the Americanrnintervention in Bosnia is, another typicalrnstage in the history of the OrthodoxrnChurch and of the Byzantine Christianrncivilization it created. I knew that thesern13- and 14-year-olds were hearing inrntheir public school classrooms and onrntelevision that their church cooperatedrnin the past with Bolsheviks and fascistsrnand now with baby-killing thugs, and Irnknew that I might be the only adult theyrnwill meet in these formative years whorncould tell them the other side, our side,rnof that story.rnIt has been the gift of the OrthodoxrnChurch and of Byzantine Christendomrnto stand as the bulwark of civilizationrnagainst the onslaughts of the barbariansrnsince the time of Christ. It has also beenrnthe gift (if you want to call it that) of thernChurch and Byzantine Christendom tornbe misunderstood and misrepresented byrnour brothers in Western Christendom,rnwho have regarded our Church as schismatic,rnand our culture and traditions asrn”Oriental” and therefore suspicious.rnAlways, when that has happened.rnWestern Christians have learned to regretrntheir attitudes toward the Byzantinernworld, such as after the Fourth Crusade’srnpillage of Constantinople led to the invasionrnof Eastern Europe by the Turks, orrnafter the West’s failure to confront StalinrnAPRIL 1996/47rnrnrn