A Lenten Word about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Over the last few weeks, several people have asked whether Brite Divinity School will be pulling back from our decades-long emphasis on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)—not that we have always used that language. I am grateful for the care with which the question has been asked and recognize the reason for asking it, but must admit that I find the inquiry perplexing. After all, we are a Christian institution.

To be clear, we have non-Christian students (and faculty) from diverse faith backgrounds and no faith background at all. We welcome them not in spite of being Christian, but precisely because of it. In other words, our emphasis on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as an institution is not some fleeting response to the fickle winds of societal change, but rather our commitment to the fundamental call of the gospel, which is to love—not some people, but all people. As the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the denomination of which we are a part, has taught since its inception: God’s table is open to all. To pull back from that commitment would be to deny the very savior we are teaching students to proclaim—something not unheard of in Christian history (as we will remember forty days from now) but rarely celebrated.

Will there be negative consequences for holding closely to our Christian commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion? Possibly. But to paraphrase Mark’s gospel, what does it profit an institution to gain the world and lose its soul?

Today marks the beginning of Lent—that forty-day journey of penitence and reflection. It is a season that asks Christians to reflect on their own mortality and to recommit to the journey of faith. Often times, folks give up something as a way of remembering God in that thing’s absence. Perhaps this Lent, we are being called to hold fast to something that brings us closer to each other, and thereby closer to God.

This Lent, Brite Divinity School will be holding on to our emphasis on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and we pray that you will as well. The good news is that no matter what we endure in the days ahead, the promise of our faith is that there is new life on the other side.

In Peace,

Rev. Stephen Cady, PhD

President

Brite Divinity School