To those who remember their Gospels, how did the Son of Man separate the sheep (the righteous) and the goats (the wicked)? Remember, it was a list of what the sheep did, and what the goats did not do. The goats were condemned by sins of omission -- not that they did evil, but rather, that they failed to do good. Let us therefore examine some of the deeds of people associated with TESC, and compare them with conservative Christianity in the West.
During the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico, notices appeared on campus bulletin boards around Evergreen from a group of students attempting to put together a caravan of relief supplies, which they intended to drive to Chiapas; they admitted that they might be turned back before getting there, but they were still daring to make the attempt (and I wish I knew if they'd made it!). For this one, I do know of a corresponding Christian example. There is a church with which I have been involved, which every year sends a team to Haiti with medical and school supplies for an orphanage there. The pastor and his wife, along with several other members of the congregation, have a local contact with whom they work. When violence broke out in Haiti, they prayerfully asked the Lord if they should skip the trip that year; He said no, just postpone it a few weeks. The violence came to an end, and they went into a Haiti which now needed them more than ever. To be honest, I would not want to be a part of a church which did not do something along these lines.
Another time, in TESC's bookstore, I saw some diaries for sale, and with them, a notice stating that they may possibly have been made in China. The notice was for the benefit of those students who were boycotting Chinese products, because of China's human rights violations. Now, this is something I would expect to be of interest to Christians, since after all, many of China's human rights violations have to do with religious persecution; but I have never seen any similar sort of notice in any Christian-owned business. How much do we in the West really care about our persecuted bretheren, in a practical sense?
Not only at TESC itself, but also in the City of Olympia, where many Evergreen alumni have chosen to stay, one can find what is termed fair-trade coffee. This arose out of concern over economic oppression of agricultural workers in the world's coffee-growing regions. Certified fair-trade coffee is grown on specific farms, which the certifying agency has investigated to ensure that the workers recieve decent wages and living conditions. Now, what of those Christian-owned businesses that sell coffee, including certain churches which run cafes on the side? In fairness, we must say that some of these may indeed be selling fair-trade coffee, but have chosen not to label it as such because of the Biblical commandment to keep acts of charity between oneslf and God (that is, not to do them to gain the recognition of the world); but it is also possible that they are simply using whichever coffee is easiest to obtain. The Lord knows the difference.
Now, it might be objected that those liberal Evergreen students, however good their intentions, are terribly misguided in their actions, as the Mumia snafu shows -- assuming the Conservative side is right about Mumia, which is by no means a given. But how could they be otherwise, without the Holy Spirit to guide them? What of those of us who do supposedly have the Holy Spirit? There is something seriously wrong when we see certain groups of goats trying, however imperfectly, to act like sheep, at the same time as so many of the sheep are content to act like goats.
