President Money, in THX Surround Sound!

As people commented on my latest post about Equality Ride, an anonymous visitor (presumably from ACU) had some sharp criticisms:

After reading this post, I have to wonder if the author was actually in chapel on the day that Dr. Money spoke. There were equal amounts of clapping/cheering, if not more, when Dr. Money stated they would be welcoming SoulForce...

For those of you who feel that this is cool, that you're sad it didn't happen while you were at ACU, and for those who would like to be at ACU to see this...you have no idea what difficult decision this has been for the ACU administration and ACU community. The administration is completely aware of the "underground homosexuality" on campus and is completely aware that ACU had an SA president that is now "out." The bubble is not that thick. Instead of guessing at the facts surrounding these decisions, instead of wishing you were here during this trying time, instead of stating how you would handle these things differently, instead of saying you're dissappointed in the student body...I would encourage you to pray. Pray for those who are making the decisions about SoulForce. Pray for the "riders." Pray for the ACU administration and for the students, faculty, and staff on campus while this is going on. This is not easy, nor is it a show for the ammusement of bloggers.

The anonymous visitor makes a good observation: I was not at chapel on the day in question, so I received all of my information second-hand. My only information about that talk came from some (fairly reliable) students and staff members who were there.

So in the interest of clearing up this difference of perception, I managed to get a copy of Money's speech, clean up a little of the tape hiss, and convert it into a format you can download. So here's the clip of the audience responses to Money's speech, in MP3 format.

Chapel Clip
Jan 19, 2006 (MP3)

I've also converted the entire speech, so if you'd like more context, here it is.

Entire Chapel Address
Jan 19, 2006 (MP3)

After having listened to the clip, it seems that our visitor was at least partly right ... the second bit of clapping does seem to be as loud as the first. On the other hand, there were not equal amounts of cheering.

But either way, the version of events in my previous post was inaccurate. A lot of people did applaud president Money's announcement that we would not have the Equality Riders arrested. Thank you, anonymous visitor, for forcing me to clear that up.

On the other hand I am a bit perplexed about the second part of the anonymous visitor's comment, in which the visitor criticized those people who thought the Equality Ride visit was book. (That's "cool", for all you old folks.) In a following comment, I asked for clarification:

I'm sure that you're being completely sincere here, but I have to confess to a little skepticism because you don't give us any explanation. What makes this this such a "difficult decision" and a "trying time"?

I mean, after reading their Web site, and talking to an equality ride coordinator, it seems pretty clear that the riders won't be megaphone-toting belligerents. So it seems to me that in the interest of open discussion, administrators should simply welcome the riders and let them wander the campus. Then people can make their own decisions about whether ACU is upholding Christian values.

But maybe there's something I'm missing?

No clarification has been forthcoming, but I'm still hopeful.

Oh, and for those of you who are actually interested doing something: I'm also talking to some locals and ACU alums who want to make sure that the Equality Riders are greated warmly and taken seriously. The people I'm talking to have different opinions about whether homosexual behavior is displeasing to God, but they all agree that hospitality and openness are appropriate Christian responses. So check back here for updates on our plans, and leave me a comment if you're interested in being a part of this group.