Jesus Ruvs You

I know (proudly) that I am one of the most racist anti-Asian person many of you know. And as much as my blanket intolerance for Asians is a joke, there's a kernel of uneasiness I have always had with the Asian-American community. I have always thought that it stemmed from having a divergent world view or different attitudes about how to approach life, relationships, and work. I admit freely that my values have always been far more "white" than Asian, even though, as you all know, you've also probably never met anyone as anti-White as me. (And that's totally not a joke.)

Anyhow, that's not really what this post is about. This post is about a trend that I have noticed a lot over the past 8 years, but did not realize was nearly as widespread and pervasive as it truly is. What's the trend? ...Asian Evangelical Christians.

Times have changed. The Reverend Peter Gomes, Minister of Harvard’s Memorial Church, says, “There are probably more evangelicals [on Harvard’s campus today] than at any time since the seventeenth century.” The Ivy League’s desire for diversity opened new doors for religious students. Evangelical groups today sponsor campus-wide forums, Bible studies, and debates about the relevance of faith to everything from science to international affairs.

In part, this can be attributed to the growing number of Asian-American students. On many Ivy League campuses, they have come to dominate evangelical groups. At Yale, 90 percent of the Campus Crusade for Christ members are Asian American; in the 1980s, the same chapter was 100 percent white. In fact, the growing presence of Asian-Americans on elite campuses may be the single largest demographic factor in evangelicalism’s ascent at places like Yale and Harvard.

Now THAT is very interesting. Aside from the fact that Asians dominate admissions to top-tier schools (I play the Asians-are-good-card when it suits me), I now have an entirely different and legitimate reason to shun the vast majority Asians: the whole Jesus Thing. This also gives me especially good reason to be anti-Korean (a sentiment which I've always vocalized somewhat arbitrarily)... because they seem to be the most fanatically evangelical Christians.

Strictly speaking, this is not relevant. But a new theory denying the Jew Jesus and the Black Jesus has emerged...

A new twist on an old favorite!

Has anyone else noticed this trend? I had always assumed it had something to do with seeking white acceptance (with White Christians no less, the most accepting tolerant people except for radical Islamists), but with such high numbers and such a strong trend, it seems like it has to be more than that. Personally I've always felt that Jesus has been a fairly hostile force in my life...with the exception of my near-marriage into a Pastor's family (which is of course, another story entirely). Jesus just didn't seem like he wanted anything to do with us slants.

I feel like I have much more to say about this but I don't feel like engaging in any more mental masturbation on the topic while I sit in my library.