Uninvited guests
How hospitable should Christian campuses be to visitors who oppose their beliefs?
Joel Belz

Imagine that you're the president of a traditional evangelical Christian college. You're opening your mail this morning, and your attention is arrested by an envelope with an unfamiliar but Islamic-sounding return address.

You're satisfied that it's not a mail bomb. Instead, you find an altogether cordial introduction to a group of bridge-building Muslims who are reaching out to evangelical Christians. They would like to visit your campus for a couple of days, getting to know you, your faculty, and your students. They would like to sit in on and participate in some of your classes, join you for meals, be part of your worship in chapel. They say that in the process they would also like to have the opportunity to explain to you their way of doing all those things as well. The visit would be, very simply, what we have for years called a cultural exchange.

Seems worth checking into. Given the fearful climate of our times, sounds like a constructive educational experience that wouldn't, at least on the face of it, compromise the college's Christian distinctives. Indeed, it might well provide genuine opportunities to understand the Islamic mindset while at the same time serving as a Christian witness to our visitors. Might be prudent to be sure that this group has no links to any terrorist groups. But yes, you tell your dean to pursue the visit. The two of you discuss the public-relations aspects—with the local media, with parents, with the college's sponsoring denomination, etc. You understand the challenge, but on balance the venture strikes you as consistent with your role as an educational institution. The rest