Alma Mater

These past few days I have been attending the biennial conference of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, held this year at my alma mater, Valparaiso University. I consider myself a proud alumnus. It is refreshing to walk the campus, to greet former teachers, to worship and sing in its grand chapel.

Such pride was tempered by a stroll through the campus bookstore. As deeply as I respect this institution and so many people connected with it, I have to be honest: I cannot purchase many of the items in their bookstore.

I was looking for a t-shirt to bring home for my youngest daughter. And sure, there were a few that had simply had the name “Valparaiso University” printed on the front. But the majority of them also had the imprinted symbol of the university’s sports, the crusader. This is what I cannot purchase.

One of the topics being addressed in the plenary sessions this week is the issue of the “religious nones” or the “religious alls” as one presenter phrased it more positively. A refrain we kept hearing is that many young people cannot associate with some segments of Christianity regarded as exclusionary. Bearing that in mind, I am back in that bookstore. Here this institution continues to brand itself with an image most exclusionary, a part of Christianity’s past that seems too violent to be promoted on a shirt, mug or bumper sticker.

Valparaiso is not the only home of the crusaders, of course.  I live less than ten miles from Susquehanna University, another liberal arts university with roots in the Lutheran church. Their sports players are also crusaders. And there are more .

I confess that I am not a historian professing detailed knowledge about the crusades. Any war takes two parties (at least) and some have proposed that those medieval Christians were acting in defense. Yet no matter the circumstances, when we endorse the crusader we are, in part, endorsing holy war. No swords becoming plow shares here.

If we are to seriously wrestle with Christianity and how it is perceived in our culture, perhaps starting with our college’s mascots wouldn’t be a bad idea. Because if our Christian colleges sports teams are battling with one another under the name of a holy war, it cannot help but shape us, even if it’s just by buying a shirt in a bookstore.