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This was an interesting article. Although I am middle-aged (mid-40s), I pledged when I was a junior in college. It was an issue with me and "how it would affect my walk with the Lord." An off-the-record conversation with a visiting member of the Fraternity during a pledge party about how the Fraternity was "religious" was God's way of letting me know that I was on the right track. Occasionally I do have conversations about this issue among fraternity brothers,and this is an hot topic in my Fraternity,Omega Psi Phi. I do think the cartography of the secular/ sacred divide is a bit different among BGLOs. The "PC" stance in our Fraternity is definitely Christian Protestant Evangelical; how we actually live at times is another issue! If you read anything that a national officer writes, 95% of the time the salutation is in the name of Jesus Christ. This is a strong heritage in our Fraternity, which we need to nurture,and take more seriously, to actually live it day in and day out. Life is a mission field. In fact, there is no neutral ground-- someone (or the institutional settings we're in) is always trying to inculcate us with their worldview--secular,Christian,whatever. Honesty and respect are the keys to navigating this issue. I learned to love and respect my LBs who did things I didn't do;they never tried to force me into being who I wasn't. And more than ever I realize that, as a Christian believer, I am a "sinner saved by grace" and am a begger pointing others (hopefully by my life!) to the source of my strength and hope. This is what has made my Fraternity experience have real value. It's not simply about "wine, women and song" but it's rooted in a vision of life that is grounded in the One who makes all relationships possible.
"The value of our Fraternity is not in numbers but in men, in real brotherhood"--Bro. Walter H. Mazyck,Esq., The Oracle, March 1925
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