You Gotta Have Faith
“Say that again, Jim.”
“That way we’ll know the kind of person we’re hiring.’”
“Are you sure you’ll know?”
“Certainly. You don’t have to go to church every Sunday. We’re talking about character. People who have grown up with the faith, inside a Protestant community, are people who fit here. When we’re saying the prayer before the faculty meeting starts, or at opening convocation, we don’t have to worry about offending anyone.”
“And you’re certain you’re not offending anyone now?”
“Why would anyone who’s not a Christian want to teach here anyway? Our name is Presbyterian College. That’s clear, isn’t it?”
“But you know how tight the job market is. I applied to 100 colleges and got two interviews. I didn’t care about the name; I needed a job teaching literature. Why do I need to be a Christian to teach 'The Sound and the Fury' or 'Mrs. Dalloway'?”
“That’s not the point. It’s how you’ll mesh with the rest of us. It’s about collegiality. Listen, I was on the committee last year when we had to turn down a head librarian candidate. He was Jewish, and I explained to him the college by-laws. The guy got upset a bit, but he understood. Isn’t it better to be upfront?”
“To wear your bigotry on your sleeve?”
“It’s not bigotry. It’s our history. A private school has the right to set religious by-laws. We used to be evangelical, you know, which meant we didn’t hire Catholics. But we changed.”
“Not so much. Anyway, I’m tenured now, and I think I’m going to pursue the faith of my father. Do you think the college would revoke the tenure of a Jewish convert?”
“What? I don’t know…it’s never been done…you mean…”
“Yes. I mean. And I guess now is the time to find out.”
Terry Barr's first essay collection, Don't Date Baptists and Other Warnings From My Alabama Mother, has been published by Red Dirt Press. Please visit his author's page at Amazon.com and at Wordpress.
