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Boise State social work professor tackles issues of Christianity and human rights
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Associate Professor of Social Work and Chair of the Graduate Program of Social Work Will Rainford engaged listeners in the Bishop Barnwell Room of the Student Union Building Monday afternoon as part of the Martin Luther King Human Rights Celebration.
Only a small crowd turned out to the educational session, but many audience members were involved with the subject matter and keen to participate. Friendly and civil debate sparked over key issues of abortion and affirmative action.
Rainford shared how he strongly values the efforts of Martin Luther King Jr. to end discrimination.
“I believe Martin Luther King is worthy of sainthood,” he said.
Women, ethnic minorities, people of different sexual orientation, the homeless, people of other religions and people with mental illness are among groups that Rainford wants to see being treated as equals. He explained how Jesus considered all these groups to be of equivalent status.
“Jesus would never allow a woman to be treated as inferior,” Rainford said. He went on to describe how Jesus treated women as equals to men, even though, in his time men were considered to be socially and politically superior.
Rainford also explained how Jesus refused to label gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders.
“He would see their pain and suffering,” Rainford said. “He would embrace them in their ‘brokenness’ … a brokenness not brought on by their sexual orientation, but rather by stones, both real and verbal, hurled at them by people who hate them.”
Rainford expressed how Jesus was tolerant and accepting of people of any religion.
“Jesus would never, ever, treat a Muslim with contempt just because they follow the Quran,” Rainford said. “Jesus is not looking for Christians who resemble him in name only. It is conversions of the heart Jesus is seeking, not the changing of names.”
Rainford explained how Jesus would never condone the use of violence, for any reason. He said that Jesus would have a lot of anger over the recent Iraq war, which he claimed was fought for oil and the security of the U.S. economy. Rainford laments the loss of not only all the U.S. soldiers that have died in the course of the war, but also the great number of innocent Iraqi people that have died since the invasion.
Rainford also brought up the human rights issues associated with illegal immigration.
“Jesus was born into dire poverty,” Rainford said, explaining how Jesus’s family had to flee home after he was born to escape a tyrannical king.
“This is the story of immigrants who come to America,” he said. “They are not unlike the Jews of Moses’s day.”
The lecture also tackled the issue of abortion. He said as a young, unmarried and scared woman, Jesus’s mother Mary was a prime candidate for abortion.
“Life started at conception for Jesus,” Rainford said. He said that every baby should be given full constitutional rights from the time of conception.
Many questions after Rainford’s speech focused on his views on abortion. As a social worker, Rainford condones women getting abortions, regardless of his own personal views on the subject.
“We do not have the right to restrict abortion,” Rainford said, clarifying that the law does not give a baby any constitutional rights until it is born. “I would very much like to see the constitution changed.”
Another question from an audience member started debate on affirmative action.
Rainford articulated his own strong belief in affirmative action and asked people to look at general cases of discrimination and not individual cases to gain a full understanding of the issue. Cultural Center Coordinator Ro Parker is on the MLK Human Rights Committee. She said the committee chose Rainford to speak about these topics because it was a prominent issue on campus.
Rainford clearly expressed that he was speaking only of his own views and not for any other organizations. He feels it is every person’s right to make up his or her own mind about issues, stressing virtues of autonomy and self determination.
“I only hope that you understand my perspective and do not adopt it as truth,” he said. “I don’t own truth, I just have my perspective."
TABITHA KEILY
Senior News Writer