📧 “crossing a line” to Hauerwas
Last night I came across the following article, which references an anecdote about Richard Nixon that Stanley also used on November 4, 2014 in a panel he was on with Drs. Hall and Hays; http://m.wacotrib.com/news/politics/leading-theologian-talks-war-politics-with-baylor-students-at-off/article_bccbde3f-f4e5-5d81-9220-3ba4b863f892.html?mode=jqm
The reference to Nixon in this article is in the 5th from the last sentence/paragraph. It sounds very similar to a comment he made in Nov. 2014 that I have significant objections to, which I will explain below. The anecdote, at least from 2014, was something like this;
A student veteran asked, after the comments from Hays, Hauerwas, and Hall, what being a pacifist meant particularly at Duke Divinity. Stanley's main thrust in answering this veteran was 'being a pacifist isn't easy.' To illustrate his point, he shared how he would tell his son to raise his hand anytime his elementary school teacher mentioned Nixon's name. Specifically, Stanley told Adam to say "Oh, you mean the murderer?" What Stanley failed to realize is how that indirectly but very clearly indicts veterans, suggesting they too can be reduced to a single, morally reductive noun. If the president, who is thousands of miles away from war, is morally indicted in such stark terms, how would soldiers, with zero mechanical distance from the violence of war, not also be wrapped up into the simplistic reductionism Stanley proposes?
I did not raise any objection with Stanley when I heard about the panel in part because it was so demeaning and I have lost much of my confidence in his ability to carefully interrogate the deeply duplicitous and injurious effect his recklessly belligerent rhetoric has had for thoughtful and engaged Christian soldiers and veterans. I figured it was a one-off and he was using it just to be "Stanley." The article I found suggests he is using the same or a very similar anecdote as a go-to answer, which I must insist in very clear terms that he cease immediately.
Can you imagine what might go through the mind of a Christian soldier or veteran who was attending Convivium? If "the best" theologian claims that a president is a "murderer," then into what monstrous effigy has modern theology caste you personally? I have had to ask myself this often, but Stanley does not seem to concern himself with the kind of critical thinking scholarship requires, at least not when it comes to putting the pacifist cart before the discipleship horse.
It is not appropriate to use this anecdote, in any academic or semi-public setting. It does not reflect the high standard expected of serious scholars and it demeans the morally complex perspective of Christians struggling with what it means to serve. Furthermore, it creates an atmosphere hostile to a community that has already been subjected to demoralizing caricatures of itself by tribalists in pacifist and patriot camps alike. It is no longer acceptable, if it ever was, to reduce Christian soldiers to one word abstractions by a general populace or an academic guild already insulated from the nuanced and painful reality of military service.
Over twenty people like me will commit suicide today, and another twenty plus tomorrow and the next day. The effect of uncritical and inflammatory anecdotes like can only be to push that number higher. It is what Stanley might call "bullshit," and it needs to stop right now.
Hi, Logan. Thank you for this. Stanley’s just left and I will be out of town when he returns from his trip but I will leave this for him. You may hear back from him directly since I’ll be away. I hope you are well.
Baylor has an active student veteran population, and are more organized than Duke; http://www.baylor.edu/vets/index.php?id=873858
You may ask him if Dr. Tran thought to invite any of them, and what their thoughts were.
20160331
Can you confirm Stanley has read my email and will no longer share this anecdote? I have seen him on campus, but have heard nothing from him, so I have no way of knowing if he has considered my request.
He has contributed to a hostile environment at Duke that belittles, demeans, and endangers military and veterans and I must insist on his confirming or denying my request in writing.
Thank you.
Hi, Logan. Stanley’s read your email and says he’ll stop using the example. I hope that will be helpful… -C
20160522 to SMH
Will Stanley be in Durham this week?
This matter does not feel at all resolved and I noticed that Stanley has not apologized to me or generally for his thoughtless comment, which has hurt fellow Christians, myself included. I would like to speak with him personally in the sprit of Matthew 18.
Please let me know if he will be in town this week. I would like to speak with him, but not in his office.
