Bob Jones University Junior and friend of the Archive, Ryan Ashton produced this testimonial promotional video about his experience in a cult in California.
BJU’s own Jay Bopp is involved in Ryan’s project for his graphic design major.
Ryan is very popular among BJU Alumni for talking about abuse. A self-described “anti-abuse advocate” Ryan wants to be our guru on all things BJU.
After completing his sophomore year, Ryan declared:
His entire text:
"What Kind of Culture Do BJU Students Want?"
This is a difficult time for everyone and in no way do I want to cause further distress. The news is not easy to hear. While I admire the loyalty many have shown to their alma mater—the evidence of what kind of culture we have as a school is plain and self-evident.
The first part of reforming a culture is to recognize what that culture is.
There exists a sizable amount of Christians committed to silencing discussion of any kind, who do not see a problem with the status quo, who deploy Christian vocabulary ("forgiveness," "grace") to coverup news of crimes, and who use shaming tactics to pressure misbehaving believers to fall in line.
The following tactics have been utilized against me in the past two days:
—You're shameful for posting about this —You're whining —You're making it about yourself and not the victims —You're trashing our school —You're punching Christ's bride in the face —You're harming others if you don't take the post down —Your post is disgusting —Your history being abused by Christians makes everything you say suspect —You're bitter
These are the signs of a university culture with goals contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. If God favors silence in the face of evil, Jesus would have stayed home.
It is always ironic when God's people—children of light—are more outraged by those exposing sin within Christian communities than by the actual sin itself.
A bride who destroys and then covers up the devastation—pleading blamelessness while suppressing truth-tellers—is an unfaithful bride who must be confronted if there is any hope for true healing to occur.
I stand by what I believe: Bob Jones University deserves a better culture than the one we have. Since few people at BJU are willing to ask the hard questions about our culture of shame, fear, and silence, I am.
After escaping the insular, self-contained worlds of Mormonism and a house church cult, I can now recognize a self-destructive culture when I see one. There are many laudable things about BJU, but our response to truth-telling that doesn't agree with our viewpoint still needs work. We will live with far greater shame if we do not embrace self-examination for if we will not examine our culture, the world will continue to do it for us, and justifiably so.
When young women in our midst are victimized, feel shame, and fear retribution and thus are silenced from coming forward for years, we have a problem. When a student is allowed to enroll after a victim reports to the university that she was assaulted by him, we have a problem. The response of my post—the guilting tactics, the silencing, the rationalizations, the outrage over exposure of sin rather than the sin itself—stands as sad witness on why the victims, our classmates, waited years to come forward.
Even if you are a friend of the accused, and even if you are aware of sin in your own life, I challenge everyone to think about the victims in this situation—specifically, the young women who will live with the ramifications of sex assault crimes for the rest of their lives.
Be a loyal friend to the accused. Be a loyal friend to the school. But be a loyal friend to the victims, too.
What kind of culture do BJU students want? One where we cannot discuss the facts of what happened without sanctimonious micromanagement? One where the narc-culture of students tattling on other students makes vulnerability impossible and help seldom found? One where we endure the guilt and shaming tactics by peers who have grown up in toxic environments? Some students have already made their choice. I want a university without peer pressure that shames me into silence, where honesty is prized, where secrets are abnormal, and true grace is for all.
It is clear there are many students who want a better Bob Jones than the one we have currently. It begins by admitting what is plainly obvious: our enclave of fundamentalism has problems and it's time to be honest about them.
Grace without Justice is enablement. Forgiveness without accountability is negligence. We have work to do to make our student body a safe place for people to speak honestly about what happens on our campus.
When this archivist asked for clarification, however, Ryan the Advocate was not pleased:
He’s talking about Ricky Altizer’s BOJE.us which I didn’t satire with BOJO.us. Another set of alumni did. Brilliantly.
And the whole Declaration of Empathy after the GRACE report was staged too. It was as plain as day.
Now, however, we have a clearer picture of the reason for Ryan’s blow-up. He was already planning an academic project designing a book on the Redlands cult. He didn’t want to hurt his brand.
The book is pretty cool-looking. So good for you, Ryan. What does it say, however?
Huh.
Oh! I wish I had thought about that. . . .
There’s a novel idea. Hmm. . . .
Jay -- why didn’t you have him cite a source? Ryan’s not an expert on this, but there are plenty who are. Why not have him go to an expert?
Okay. Well, there is that. How does this intersect with Bob Jones University?
This is a picture of Bob Jones University’s mentoring and counseling and education. Read the book. Is this how you’d want your young adult child’s maturation to be . . . branded?
Consider the employment options. Is this what you’d want your impressionable millennial to create for his portfolio?
Look at how he treats someone who could be on his side. Is this how you’d want your young adult child to act?
Ryan desperately wants guru-status, a goal that has been exploited to distract people from the problems at Bob Jones University. Ryan, you will no doubt see this and will tell me to “go back to my cave,” and that’s fine. You are entering a tradition among BJU graduates of self-promotion in the name of “ministry.” We’ve all seen it for years. It never ends easily. I hope you find healing.