Letter to the Editor: Progressivism isn't about "us" vs. "them"

I do not respond to Ms. Malaklou's Wednesday, April 7, commentary "It is not finished," as a committed Christian understandably perturbed by her insinuation that religious individuals are little more than somnambulists blindly following an outdated doctrine. I am not a committed Christian, and I share Malaklou's concerns about a form of nihilism some aspects of the Christian tradition promulgate (the world being nothing but a veil of tears we eventually pass through... and as such not worth troubling over) along with the prominent role many churches have played in reinforcing and reifying oppressive practices.

However, Malaklou's self-styled "progressivism" should give every progressive some pause. Her response to the "us" vs. "them" bifurcation between secular and sacred is to simply remove the other from the equation. Organized religion at Duke creates tension? For her the answer seems to be doing away with organized religion on campus, a move that could be called progressive only in some alternate universe where tolerance is akin to avoidance.

 This "live and leave me alone" attitude promotes deafness and insensitivity... and the last time I checked those were not qualities included in the working definition of 'progressive'.

 Lastly, Malaklou's claims of "free thinking" are especially suspect. Her faith in "free speech and an open mind" is certainly not sui generis, and may have even occurred to such silly "dead men" as Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King, Jr. Our beliefs, concerns, attitudes and opinions are not drawn smoothly or solely from a free-floating ego. Instead, they are shot through with the concerns, attitudes, etc. of the social world around us. Malaklou might want to ponder the attitudes and beliefs of her immediate social circle before she makes any bold claims of being an autonomous free thinker. Of course, the previous sentence included a wild presumption about someone I have never met. It looks like Malaklou's "progressivism" is already rubbing off on me.

 David McIvor