Catholic university speaker urges students to “crucify whiteness”
An event at Carlow University urged students to "crucify whiteness" and criticized evangelicals who voted for President Donald Trump.
The speaker suggested that whiteness is a concept, and stated that people of color can "also be white."
A speaker event at Carlow University in Pennsylvania urged students to “crucify whiteness,” embrace “hopelessness,” and “ethically lie” to cover historical wrongs.
As reported by The College Fix, “Reject White Supremecy” was delivered virtually on Mar. 3 by Iliff School of Theology social ethics and Latinx studies professor Miguel De La Torre. It was sponsored by Carlow’s Atkins Center for Ethics.
[RELATED: Catholic university hosts ‘Gayla’ to celebrate Pride Week]
In the speech, De La Torre criticized evangelicals who voted for President Donald Trump.
”When eight out of ten white evangelicals voted for a person who is completely against everything Christianity stands for, I don’t know what Christianity they are practicing,” he said.
Additionally, he argued that the word white doesn’t always reference skin color, but rather is an “ontological concept.”
“Those of us who are colored, some of us can also be white,” he said. “But the good news is there is salvation.”
De La Torre noted that he is not a theologian, and is more concerned about focusing on “dealing with what’s going on than trying to figure out theology.”
Carlow University is a private Catholic institution in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and was founded by the Sisters of Mercy.
Carlow University Public Relations and Communications Manager Sean McFarland defended the event to Campus Reform, stating that “Carlow University is proud of our Catholic heritage and mercy mission, which welcomes all.”
”As such, the University welcomes respectful discourse and multiple perspectives, including being open to hosting speakers like Dr. De La Torre whose topic may engender thoughtful reflection and dialogue,” he said. “The viewpoints of lecturers should not be taken as either an endorsement or opposition of how the University feels about a particular issue.”
He continued, “Rather, the intent of our university’s liberal arts tradition is to expose students to a variety of worldly perspectives and encourage them to think critically and individually on how they feel about the topic(s) in question.”
The event faces backlash from TFP Student Action, which was formed as a project of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property. The group criticized the event being held on a Catholic campus in a blog post.
According to the website, American TFP aims to “resist, in the realm of ideas, the liberal, socialist, and communist trends of the times and proudly affirm the positive values of tradition, family and private property.”
Campus Reform has also reached out to De La Torre and TFP Student Action for comment, but did not respond in time for publication.
Follow @tannermrichards on Twitter.
