The Calvin College Rebellion

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Bush will be giving a commencement speech in May to nice, safe, Christian Calvin College, in Grand Rapids (DeVos City), right in Michigan's bible belt.

But these Christians just don't want to play along ...

Professor Kenneth Pomykala, chair of Calvin College's Department of Religion (and a regular White House Briefing reader!) wrote to me that some members of the community "are unhappy with Bush's visit because we believe that Christian values require public policies that seek social justice, compassion for the disenfranchised, human rights, a commitment to peace, care and preservation of the environment, and honesty, say, from political leaders -- in short, policies opposed to the Bush agenda."

Pomkala tried to help me understand where Calvin fits into the Christian spectrum: "Calvin is confessionally Reformed/Presbyterian (in other words, Calvinistic -- no surprise there, I guess), with a much more positive view of the intellect and participation in the broader culture than is characteristic of American evangelicalism, much of which is anti-intellectual (e.g. 'creation science') and escapist (e.g. the Left Behind series), not to mention morally barbaric (e.g. opposition to stem cell research; anti-gay)."

See Our Commencement Is Not Your Platform for more.

Either graduates will have to sign a form showing support for Our President, George W. Bush, or Bush is going to cancel like a chicken. Otherwise, there may be some noise during the speech.