"Samford appears eager to kowtow to the vocal majority, while abandoning its responsibility to a vulnerable minority."
Dear President Taylor,
I graduated from Samford in 2005 with a degree in Church Music. Serving as manager of the A Cappella Choir, drum major of the marching band, and president of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, I was active on campus as a leader and deeply invested in my studies. In the music department I knew several students who identified, quietly and to a select few friends, as gay. Becoming friends with these individuals, seeing up close how they dealt with a student body who overwhelmingly and outwardly believed their very existence was against God’s intended order, had a profound effect on me. It prodded me into growth; growth beyond the easy religiosity of my adolescence and my small ideas about God’s love.
No one taught me this at Samford, which I mean to be a compliment. I was not indoctrinated into LGBTQ acceptance. Neither was I indoctrinated into LGBTQ exclusion. Rather it was Samford’s core commitment to the liberal arts and its embrace of Baptist distinctives of soul freedom and religious inquiry which helped me grow. I am grateful for the space Samford afforded me to grow. I am indebted to the opportunities it gave me to be exposed to opinions and facts, even people who challenged me to become the person God has called me to be.
Today I am the Senior Pastor of University Baptist Church in Montevallo, Alabama, where I have served for eight years. It may be easy to assume, cynically, that my response is a knee-jerk reaction, which will serve my own interests as a pastor. I will simply point out that my church does not have an official statement of welcome and inclusion. Not everyone in my congregation shares my conviction on this matter and some may take issue with my willingness to add my voice to the cause. I am okay with this. I preach that all people are deserving of access to the life-giving love of Jesus. For Samford to excise the voices of those individuals who are best-equipped to extend that message to LGBTQ students strikes me as unnecessary and cruel; unnecessary because, in my experience, the student body needs no help in making LGBTQ persons feel unwelcome and unloved; cruel because Samford appears eager to kowtow to the vocal majority, while abandoning its responsibility to a vulnerable minority.
It was my childhood pastor, Dr. James Walters of Mobile First Baptist Church, who guided me to Samford University. Given the sudden decision to disinvite two ministers based on their denominations’ decades-old stance towards LGBTQ persons, a decision which the administration has apparently embraced, I cannot in good conscience recommend Samford to young people in my community. If called upon, I would welcome the opportunity for further conversation. But for now, I must add my voice to the chorus of disappointed alums and clergy.
Sincerely,
Daniel Stallings