Lewd Chapel Message at Louisiana College

[Jerome]

Bible professor at Louisiana Baptist Convention's school quits after administrators stonewall his concerns about remarks made by Dr. Joy Dara in chapel:

Muted response to lewd chapel message by LC's new Dean of Human Behavior has Bible professor resigning in protest

"LC hired Dara last September as its new Dean of Human Behavior. On Feb. 14th, Valentine’s Day, Dara spoke at the school’s mandatory chapel services about female sexuality, comparing a woman’s body to a house in order to lecture young women about their grooming habits...advised women to 'mow their lawns,' a reference to pubic hair....afterward, multiple students told professors and administrators they found Dara’s comments to be grossly inappropriate"

Professor Russell Meek meets with Vice Presidents Cheryl Clark and Philip Caples and President Rick Brewer

"The next day, Meek shared his own concerns and those privately expressed by a colleague and by at least one of his students to Vice President Caples....Eleven days after Dara made the controversial comments, Meek met privately with Brewer and two other top LC administrators, Cheryl Clark and Philip Caples, in order to address the concerns he had outlined in an email to Brewer the previous week....Almost immediately, Brewer and Clark both became hostile toward Meek. Clark was particularly combative, asking, in exasperation, how such criticism would help the school while also asserting herself to be a feminist who...agreed with Dara."

"both Brewer and Caples stated they were 'uncomfortable' with what Dara had said, while, at the same time, refusing to take any type of action that would clarify the school’s official position on fostering a climate of respect for women.....Meek...concluded he could no longer remain with the school. 'It would have compromised my integrity to have stayed,' he told the Bayou Brief."

 

[rlvaughn]

Another bit of irony, as we look at the behavior of the Dean of Human Behavior!

Seems like Louisiana College just can't get it right, no matter what.

 

[Reynolds]

Bible professor at Louisiana Baptist Convention's school quits after administrators stonewall his concerns about remarks made by Dr. Joy Dara in chapel:

Muted response to lewd chapel message by LC's new Dean of Human Behavior has Bible professor resigning in protest

"LC hired Dara last September as its new Dean of Human Behavior. On Feb. 14th, Valentine’s Day, Dara spoke at the school’s mandatory chapel services about female sexuality, comparing a woman’s body to a house in order to lecture young women about their grooming habits...advised women to 'mow their lawns,' a reference to pubic hair....afterward, multiple students told professors and administrators they found Dara’s comments to be grossly inappropriate"

Professor Russell Meek meets with Vice Presidents Cheryl Clark and Philip Caples and President Rick Brewer

"The next day, Meek shared his own concerns and those privately expressed by a colleague and by at least one of his students to Vice President Caples....Eleven days after Dara made the controversial comments, Meek met privately with Brewer and two other top LC administrators, Cheryl Clark and Philip Caples, in order to address the concerns he had outlined in an email to Brewer the previous week....Almost immediately, Brewer and Clark both became hostile toward Meek. Clark was particularly combative, asking, in exasperation, how such criticism would help the school while also asserting herself to be a feminist who...agreed with Dara."

"both Brewer and Caples stated they were 'uncomfortable' with what Dara had said, while, at the same time, refusing to take any type of action that would clarify the school’s official position on fostering a climate of respect for women.....Meek...concluded he could no longer remain with the school. 'It would have compromised my integrity to have stayed,' he told the Bayou Brief."

I don't see anything wrong with what Dr. Dara said.

 

[Scarlett O.]

Why is a grown man in a chapel service telling young women to shave their pubic area? Were there young men in this chapel service?

I'm very confused at why this is going on at a Christian college during a chapel service.

Edited to say: Now that I have read the whole article, he seems to have given mixed messages.

He first says not to have multiple partners. It makes your body "a crackhouse". Then he say to "mow your lawn" to keep your "partnerS" satisfied.

What is going on at LC? I have a student from my church who is going there this fall.

 

[Reynolds]

Why is a grown man in a chapel service telling young women to shave their pubic area? Were there young men in this chapel service?

I'm very confused at why this is going on at a Christian college during a chapel service.

Edited to say: Now that I have read the whole article, he seems to have given mixed messages.

He first says not to have multiple partners. It makes your body "a crackhouse". Then he say to "mow your lawn" to keep your "partnerS" satisfied.

What is going on at LC? I have a student from my church who is going there this fall.

"PartnerS" is easy. Dealing with plural women each having one spouse, that will be partners. People assume pubic hair. That may or may not be what he is talking about. He, being black, is most likely talking about body hair in general. When I was in college, mist of the black girls had leg hair, arm hair, arm pit hair...... Even if he was talking about pubic hair, ain't nothing wrong with talking about it.

Any of you critics ever read Song of Soloman?

 

[Scarlett O.]

Any of you critics ever read Song of Soloman?

Yes, I've read it a few times. I don't recall seeing anything in there where a woman should shave her pubic area or any other place on her body to please a man.

All of that is between a wife and a husband. Period.

By-the-by, Dara said in his "apology" statement that.....well, let me quote the whole thing.

"I am sorry to hear that some of you were offended by the tone of my preaching at the chapel this week. I am grateful that you brought this issue to my attention and I ask your forgiveness. It was never my intention to cause anyone any distress. Next time, I'll be sure to weigh my warped sense of humor against my sense of propriety and choose something that isn't controversial."

Why was this man "preaching" on something that has no basis in scripture?

If someone can show me where the Bible says for a woman to shave her body - anywhere to please a man, I'll let this go.

I'm not a prude and I'll discuss anything with anyone anywhere and I, after 17 years on the BB, am still unhappy that we cannot discuss certain things that are in the Bible because it might offend "young people". I'm telling, those young people need to KNOW what the Bible says about things that we cannot discuss here.

I'll just ask you, Reynolds. What if your pastor stood up this Sunday and said, "The topic of my sermon today is on female sexuality with one of the points being on shaving of pubic hair to please men. I don't have any scripture base for this so you all can just put your Bibles away."

In all actuality, what would you do. I know what I would do.

 

[Reynolds]

Yes, I've read it a few times. I don't recall seeing anything in there where a woman should shave her pubic area or any other place on her body to please a man.

All of that is between a wife and a husband. Period.

By-the-by, Dara said in his "apology" statement that.....well, let me quote the whole thing.

"I am sorry to hear that some of you were offended by the tone of my preaching at the chapel this week. I am grateful that you brought this issue to my attention and I ask your forgiveness. It was never my intention to cause anyone any distress. Next time, I'll be sure to weigh my warped sense of humor against my sense of propriety and choose something that isn't controversial."

Why was this man "preaching" on something that has no basis in scripture?

If someone can show me where the Bible says for a woman to shave her body - anywhere to please a man, I'll let this go.

I'm not a prude and I'll discuss anything with anyone anywhere and I, after 17 years on the BB, am still unhappy that we cannot discuss certain things that are in the Bible because it might offend "young people". I'm telling, those young people need to KNOW what the Bible says about things that we cannot discuss here.

I'll just ask you, Reynolds. What if your pastor stood up this Sunday and said, "The topic of my sermon today is on female sexuality with one of the points being on shaving of pubic hair to please men. I don't have any scripture base for this so you all can just put your Bibles away."

In all actuality, what would you do. I know what I would do.

I would have to hear the whole sermon to judge it. Was the whole sermon on this or this just a rabbit trail? Was scripture used? I have no idea. My pastor runs off on rabbit trails all the time. I did the same when I preached.

 

[rlvaughn]

I agree that in general Americans are too quick to be offended, as well as there being a need to speak plainly of sexual issue from a biblical standpoint. I don't see any biblical viewpoint in the following:

Dara...advised women to “mow their lawns,” a reference to pubic hair, as a way of keeping their partners sexually satisfied.

Dara himself, in his apology for his "tone," seems to pass this all off sort of flippantly with his reference to his "warped sense of humor."

A bigger issue, though, is the President and Vice-President disagreeing with and being uncomfortable with what Joy Dara said, but cowering down because he is an important and powerful man. (This, of course, if their actions are portrayed correctly.)

 

[Jerome]

I would have to hear the whole sermon to judge it. Was the whole sermon on this or this just a rabbit trail? Was scripture used? I have no idea.

Sounds like they don't want anyone to hear the 'sermon':

"LC President Rick Brewer....rejected requests for Dara’s sermon to be posted online"

"President of Academic Affairs Cheryl Clark....was particularly combative....suggesting that his concerns about Dara, if they were ever to be made public, would undermine the school’s ability to raise money"

"Although the school had previously uploaded videos of its chapel services to an official account on YouTube, Dara’s sermon was never published, and the entire account, along with its archives, has subsequently been deleted."

 

[rlvaughn]

Russell Meek's version of the story, at SBC Voices.
Misogyny in Baptist Higher Education (by Russell L. Meek)

May 4 was my last day at Louisiana College, where I had taught Old Testament and Hebrew for the past four years. I left because of how the school handled what seemed to me to be a clear example of the type of theological system that undergirds the current sexual abuse crisis in the Southern Baptist Convention.

 

[Reynolds]

Russell Meek's version of the story, at SBC Voices.
Misogyny in Baptist Higher Education (by Russell L. Meek)

I think he made a mountain out of a mole hill.
I agree with what was said in Chapel. Women should try to be attractive for their husbands. Women who sleep around do turn their bodies into crack houses.

 

[Rob_BW]

In my opinion the "mow your lawn" comment was over the line for a chapel setting.

 

[Reynolds]

In my opinion the "mow your lawn" comment was over the line for a chapel setting.

I don't. It's Chapel. Everyone there is an adult.

 

[Rob_BW]

If it was a serious discussion on grooming? Sure. But it was an attempt at a lewd joke.

 

[Scarlett O.]

I think he made a mountain out of a mole hill.
I agree with what was said in Chapel. Women should try to be attractive for their husbands. Women who sleep around do turn their bodies into crack houses.

So where is the adult female who speaks in chapel to the young men on how to make their genitals more attractive to their wives? Where is the adult female who speaks to young men in chapel about the names society calls their bodies when they, the young men, sleep around?

Can you imagine what would happen if the reverse happened - a woman speaking like this to young men in a chapel setting. She'd be lynched. She'd be called vile names. It would be very bad.

I can't believe this is acceptable to people that a man speaks from the pulpit to young girls about shaving their pubic areas and makes, in sick humor [his words, not mine], a joke out of the matter.

I'm still flabbergasted that some approve of this. After 17 years on the BB, I shouldn't be surprised, but I always still am.

 

[Scarlett O.]

If it was a serious discussion on grooming? Sure. But it was an attempt at a lewd joke.

So as long as he had a straight face, he could speak to these young ladies about their genitals from the pulpit.

 

[Reynolds]

So where is the adult female who speaks in chapel to the young men on how to make their genitals more attractive to their wives? Where is the adult female who speaks to young men in chapel about the names society calls their bodies when they, the young men, sleep around?

Can you imagine what would happen if the reverse happened - a woman speaking like this to young men in a chapel setting. She'd be lynched. She'd be called vile names. It would be very bad.

I can't believe this is acceptable to people that a man speaks from the pulpit to young girls about shaving their pubic areas and makes, in sick humor [his words, not mine], a joke out of the matter.

I'm still flabbergasted that some approve of this. After 17 years on the BB, I shouldn't be surprised, but I always still am.

This stuff should be talked about from the pulpit. Men should be told the same thing. I don't think women belong in the pulpit, but the message should be conveyed to men as well. People need to read Song of Soloman and quit being prudes.

 

[Reynolds]

In my opinion the "mow your lawn" comment was over the line for a chapel setting.

Why? Young Christians need to be taught about successful marriage. A healthy, vibrant sex life is a major part of that marriage. I think we need to get over having our delicate little ears being offended so easily.

 

[Rob_BW]

So as long as he had a straight face, he could speak to these young ladies about their genitals from the pulpit.

I thought I answered that clearly in post #12.

Let me try one more time.

1. I don't believe talking about grooming is explicitly sinful. Between spouses, friends, and in a proper venue.

2. Since there's no biblical call on such grooming, I don't see the pulpit as a proper venue.

3. It seems to me that the remark was made to garner a laugh, and would fall under the prohibition on coarse joking in Ephesians 5:4. I prohibition I'm guilty of breaking myself.

 

[Scarlett O.]

This stuff should be talked about from the pulpit. Men should be told the same thing. I don't think women belong in the pulpit, but the message should be conveyed to men as well. People need to read Song of Soloman and quit being prudes.

You keep bringing up the Bible as if the Song of Solomon has anything to do with this man's "preaching" [he called it preaching] about his opinion of a woman's private body parts and his preaching in a Saturday Night Live/Def Comedy Jam manner.

I've told you that I've read the Song of Solomon - more than once. It has absolutely no bearing in this matter. Sex is important in a healthy Christian marital relationship. Everybody knows that. Every - body. But how this book of the Bible is related to this man's vulgar/coarse comedy routine is beyond my comprehension.

I've also read 1 Timothy - Paul's directive to the young pastor on how to BE a pastor. He tells Timothy to "treat the older women like mothers and the younger women like sisters, with absolute purity."

Paul also said in the same letter to the young pastor for him to "Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity."

This Greek word for purity is found only in these two verses - Paul to Timothy. It means "chastity", "sinlessness of life", and "cleanness".

Dr. Dara was NOT "an example in speech, conduct, or purity." Dr. Dara was NOT treating these young women, with "absolute purity" like sisters.

He had no authority to "preach" his opinion as a directive about a woman shaving her private pubic area to please a man.

And Louisiana College failed in this instance to set the matter straight.

I've read literally every article I can find in this matter and read about it on another board. I've read every single comment on everything I could find and yours, Reynolds, is the only opinion that those who don't like his "sermon" are prudes and that there's nothing wrong with what he said.