What we’re doing at BJUGrace

We at BJUGrace don’t hate Bob Jones University or any individuals at BJU. We love God and know that there are people at the school who love God, and we don’t have a desire to see the school close.

However, some things have been done very wrong at BJU, and we believe that a simple apology from a president who has been there less than a year is not sufficient, because several things still need to change.

We’re asking for the content of the re-traumatizing counseling to be completely overhauled. We’re also asking for BJU to confess their failure to report abuse of minors, their support of known perpetrators, and their obstruction of justice. We at BJUGrace have spoken with many survivors, and know of situations that fall into each of these categories. Accordingly, these issues will be our area of focus, and we don’t want to get side-tracked in other arguments or discussions. We want to provide one more safe space for abuse survivors to speak when they’re ready.

We seek truth and righteousness. But we want to seek it with grace and peace, without sarcasm or hatefulness, in confidence that God is the ultimate Judge and Christ is the ultimate Healer.

We understand that paradigms don’t always shift easily, especially regarding extremely difficult information. We believe that continuing to speak truth, while trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit to open eyes and ears is the appropriate approach for us to take.

So . . . there won’t be any point in asking us, “Why are you still talking about this?” Until genuine change is forthcoming, along with true repentance from people who have actually done wrong in the areas we’ve mentioned, as well as actions that match an expressed desire to see wicked abuse perpetrators brought to justice, we will continue to speak. We’ll post information as we’re able about violations of laws, we’ll post information as we’re able about the support and protection (either explicit or implicit) of abuse perpetrators, checking and vetting statements for accuracy. We’ll post information about the counseling system, and if we post something about a particular individual that is based on something other than public information, we want to allow him or her an opportunity to respond, understanding that this is good journalistic practice.

We’re not bitter haters, and hope that people who read here will be able to see that. We’re simply alumni who want to see changes—not just the bending of old rules like having a spring break and using app Bibles in chapel—but true, positive Christ-glorifying changes in the very deepest, most hidden places of the school.