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March 25, 2007

The "Cult" of Clean Feet

Somehow I managed to miss this remarkable example of Christian persecution taking place at Savannah State University in Georgia. A lot of "Christian persecution" cases are over-reactions, such as the Heritage High case in Vancouver, WA. But this SSU case appears to be so outrageous that I'm quite frankly stunned.

The case revolves around a Christian ministry student group on the campus called Commissioned II Love (C2L), which advocates pure Christian living and service. It encourages its members not to join sororities and fraternities because the groups tend to promote excessive alcohol consumption and pre-marital sex (any former college student can attest to the factual basis for this concern). And every year at a retreat, the older C2L members wash the feet of new members as a symbol of service, modeled after Jesus's washing of his disciples' feet (something that in that time was only done by lowly servants – making it a profound statement on Jesus's part). Though not all Christians partake in this ceremony, it isn't unusual. Seventh-Day Adventists do it regularly as part of their communion services, and growing up I participated in this ritual countless times.

Unfortunately, a fraternity member who was offended by the Christian group's anti-Greek stance decided to set them up for a fall. He attended the retreat and voluntarily had his feet washed and washed others' feet. Then he started disputing the group's beliefs and members responded – verbally – to his provocation, telling him he needed to be "saved." He then reported to school authorities and the police that the group's beliefs were exclusionary and their activities "cult-like." Moreover, he charged, the footwashing ceremony was a form of "hazing." Amazingly, the school administration suspended the group's activities and then, when some of its members attended an off-campus Christian music event, expelled the group from campus for violating the suspension.

I have sincerely looked for the "other side" of this story to see if facts exist, as they do in the Heritage High case, that would make more sense of it, but I have not found anything.

You can read the complaint by the Christian group here (it is a .pdf file) and their attorney's comments here. Noteworthy in the complaint is the allegation that cult-like practices included baptisms and foot washing. Frankly, I'm surprised they didn't add communion to the list. This blogger really puts it into perspective:

Paddling, force-feeding alcoholic beverages, requiring new members to perform chores and humiliating tasks, members voluntarily washing a new member's feet in accordance with Scripture; what do all of these activities have in common? According to Savannah State University, all of the aforementioned activities are considered "hazing" and deserving of the most severe sanctions.

It's clearly ridiculous on its face.

Posted by Becky at March 25, 2007 01:16 PM