Not Harvard's Concern

"THE BIBLE is not a thesaurus for moral living," the Rev. Peter J. Gomes told the Harvard Gazette last week.

But a new group on campus, the so-called Concerned Christians at Harvard (CCH), seems to feel very strongly that the Bible is such a directory of moral life. And according to their reading, the Bible says homosexuality is Evil. The sin of Sodom--that kind of thing.

Thus Gomes, who announced last November that he is gay, is refusing "to recognize the sinfulness of his actions," as arch-conservative Sumner E. Anderson '92, chair of CCH, self-righteously intoned last week.

Still, Anderson insists that CCH is not calling for Gomes' resignation because he is a homosexual--only because he's not a self-hating homosexual. Invoking the "love-the-sinner-hate-the-sin" rule so often used to disguise such attacks on individuals, CCH member Robert K. Wasinger '94 told The Crimson, "If Gomes were repentant of his homosexuality...there wouldn't be a need to call for his resignation."

ALL OF THIS comes down to a theological dispute--President Neil L. Rudenstine was right about that. On one side are the CCH members who say that the Bible condemns homosexuality and that any Christian minister must follow that teaching.

On another side are people like Morison Professor of New Testament Studies Helmut H. Koester who told The Crimson that only "a Biblical literalist" would hold this view.

And then there are Gomes and others who say that "homosexuality and Christian faith are neither irreconcilable nor contradictions."

But whatever myriad views are offered in this long-standing debate, "It is [not] the task of the University to apply a doctrinal test" to decide those issues, as Rudenstine put it. Therefore, Rudenstine declined to fire Gomes.

We commend this decision. It is simply not Harvard's place to rule on theological matters. As Anderson himself said, Rudenstine "is no theologian." The Harvard of the 17th century may have been a seminary for young Christian men, but the University approaching the 21st is not. It is an educational institution which should have no role in arbitrating internecine disputes within the Christian faith.

And make no mistake: such a University ruling would be required in order to ask Gomes to step down on the grounds CCH offers--that he is a Christian minister who believes and preaches that homosexuality is not a sin.

The real problem is that institutionalized Christianity continues to exist at Harvard. If the University did not have an official Christian church with an official University minister, there wouldn't be any questions about Rudenstine's role in the dispute.

This policy of mixing academics with religion should end. One option is for Memorial Church to become an ecumenical religious center for all students interested. The problem of campus religious groups asking to use the space would be a difficult one, but solving these kinds of conflicts would be more desirable than perpetuating a vestige of Christian Harvard.

OF COURSE, if Anderson and his four friends who head up CCH want to ask Gomes to resign, they can. However much we disagree with their views, they have the right to try to foist those opinions on the community. But they shouldn't expect Gomes to acquiesce to their demands, and they shouldn't expect the University to become the referee of religious battles.