While trying to figure out what to write about for this week’s blog, I could not get out of my mind a local news story that ran last week about OSU’s move-in day.  Perhaps some of you saw it as well.  The summary of the story is that a few young men living in a house located along Indianola Avenue hung banners during move-in day for Ohio State University that read “Dads, we’ll take it from here” and “Daughter day care.”

This news story stuck with me for a number of reasons, but two things seem especially pertinent:

First, the article that ran on the Columbus NBC station was titled, “Are OSU move-in banners inappropriate?”  The fact that we as a society are still leaving this question up for debate bothers me.  In what way is it “appropriate” to very publically display signs to strangers that insinuate that women are merely sexual objects who need men to care for them?  Not only were these signs degrading and inappropriate, but the fact that we are still debating their nature also contributes to what is known as rape culture.  Too often we react to these sorts of instances not by clearly communicating our disapproval of actions like this, but rather we spend our time telling girls to be careful, to watch what they wear, to not be too suggestive, and to take all sorts of measure to make sure they are being safe. 

Everyone should be safe.  That is a good thing.  What is not a good thing is that we too often treat things like this as “boys being boys” and end up spending more of our energy policing women’s bodies rather than teaching men not to harass and assault women.   I realize, of course, that sexual assault knows no gender, but the reality is that patriarchal attitudes fuel these realities.

Is it the right of these young men to display these signs?  Probably.  But just because something is a protected right should not mean that we as a society should endlessly need to debate the appropriateness of something like this.

Second, the other reason this article stuck with me is that when one of the young men who lives in the house was interviewed he replied, “People have been saying we are misogynists, we are sexist, we are degrading towards women. My dad, he is a good Christian man, I am a good Christian man, but we just do this for fun. We are not trying to cause any havoc or stir up any trouble, we are just trying to have some fun.”

I know that this young man probably wasn’t meaning to make a sweeping theological statement, but it got me thinking about what it means to claim Christian identity.  He seems to be claiming it as a way of indicating that he would never intentionally do something to hurt someone else.  He uses his Christian identity in this instance as a way of disregarding the implications of his actions. 

Instead, I think that being “a good Christian man/woman/person” means that we allow ourselves to be continually held accountable for our actions, regardless of our intentions.   It means that we acknowledge the ways that we are complicit or passive in the face of the oppression of others and that we do the hard but important work of reconciliation.

In the scripture for this coming Sunday, a woman confronts Jesus and attempts to hold him accountable to the good news.  It is a really interesting exchange between this woman and Jesus, and one that I think the young man from the news could learn from.  One way of reading the passage is that the woman ultimately changes Jesus’ mind.  Perhaps being a good Christian means being vulnerable enough to being held accountable and brave enough to change our mind.