Having attended the presentation given by Jake MacAulay on October 18th I am convinced that the controversy that has arisen on campus is due primarily to significant misinterpretation of the speaker’s message and actual words.

In an October 19 letter, William Fleck alleged that MacAulay “denied the existence of transgendered people” and “implied that it should be illegal for LGBTQ to live” authentically.

I have an unedited recording and transcript (which I’m happy to share with anyone) of the presentation and can find nothing of the sort.

The primary thrust of MacAulay’s speech was that the American form of government is founded on the view that all men are “created equal”. And, that we have unalienable rights granted by our Creator that no government has the right to deny or suppress, but rather that “to secure these rights governments are instituted among men”. He discussed MLK’s resistance against “unjust law” and agreed with MLK (and St. Augustine) that “an unjust law is no law at all”. This further underscored his main point that the American form of government is meant to be limited in scope, preferring to allow individuals, families and churches to govern themselves rather than ordering every detail of their existence.

All this underscored MacAulay’s central premise that “no jurisdiction of human government is above God” or his will for how mankind should treat one another (natural law). This is why an “unjust law is no law at all”. Ironically, it is this same transcendent moral authority (God) to which Mr. Fleck, when referring (to) the straw man he set up, appeals by saying “This … is not the Christianity I know”.

And so we are back to discussing “God’s will for our lives”, even in the words of Mr. Fleck. And this is exactly what LSF (Lutheran Student Fellowship) is all about: connecting the will of God, as revealed in Holy Scripture, to all of our campus life, from a distinctly confessional (that is, traditional) Lutheran Perspective. And while we would likely disagree with some of Mr. Fleck’s views on this matter, we would never recommend that he, or anyone we disagree with, be silenced on those grounds.

To suggest that anyone who disagrees with or critiques mainstream transgender ideology (that is, ideology, rather than actual people themselves) bears direct personal responsibility for suicides committed by transgendered people is ludicrous and unacceptable. But this is exactly what has been proposed publicly, and further, that anyone (or some other group) decided to be outside of “acceptable LGBTQ orthodoxy” should be de-platformed at NDSU for this reason. Vague buzzwords such as “dehumanize, delegitimize, invalidate, hate, etc.” do not make this proposal any less totalitarian. We stand opposed to dissenters being silenced and in favor of robust discussions involving all issues having to do with God and His will for our lives.

Jared Rudolph

Lutheran Student Fellowship