# One Giant Leap for Christianity Students **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 14, 2003, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336 "2003-11-14T23:20:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/1 "2003-11-14T23:20:59Z")
“It was not until the 1960s that the school lifted the rule prohibiting students from going to movies.” Students will now be able to dance!!! [http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2003-11-14-first-dance\_x.htm](http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2003-11-14-first-dance_x.htm) So, what’s next? Maybe a library filled with information? ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/2 "2003-11-14T23:37:00Z")
> [@](#): > > **quoted from the linked article:** > _As many as 1,200 students at Wheaton College will gather in the gym Friday night for the first real dance in the Christian school’s 143-year history._ Does John Lithgow know about this? Somebody needs to put together a shooting script for “Footloose II: Electric Boogaloo” quick. > [@](#): > > _Shellhamer said there has been concern among some alumni, but for the most part, the reaction has been positive._ Pity none of those concerned alumni were quoted in the article. I would have enjoyed that part. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/3 "2003-11-14T23:39:10Z")
My highschool had very similar rules. Dancing, movies and “secular” music and books were forbidden, even _after_ school hours. (I knew of one kid who was expelled because a teacher saw him wearing a Metallica t-shirt in a grocery store.) Our “prom” was held in a dispiritedly decorated church basement. We ate a catered dinner, then played Bible trivia games. Library? Ours was stocked with books like “In His Steps,” and a series of painfully boring religious biographies, all of which were written by the same woman. (I can still see the picture of her in the back cover: grim and glaring, wearing cats’-eye glasses.) There were only four bookshelves. The “science” section took up an entire case, consisting entirely of anti-evolution books, poorly bound, smearily printed, and peppered with numerous typos. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/4 "2003-11-14T23:45:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Graham Claybrook, a senior, agreed: “It will be nice to be able to tell my friends that I go to a college that is fairly normal.” You poor bastard… “Now that we have swing dancing, we’re just like all the other college students!” ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/5 "2003-11-14T23:47:40Z")
My older brother went to a Catholic grade school and the Nuns beat him so much that my Ma let the rest of us go to public schools. Yeah Bro!!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/6 "2003-11-14T23:48:39Z")
> [@](#): > > For generations, students were barred from dancing — on campus or off — unless it was with members of the same sex Anyone else find that amusing, or do I just have a filthy mind? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/7 "2003-11-15T00:05:33Z")
I went to a college where no school-sponsered dances were (or still are) permitted, although students were allowed to dance in the privacy of their dorm rooms or at off-campus events. Every year, they would have a formal dinner, sponsered by the school, and organized by the student government. At the appropriate time in the evening, the president would announce, “The dinner is now over. This event has ended. However, the room will remain open until midnight. Just for your information.” And then, once the ‘dinner’ had ended, a DJ would appear as if from nowhere… Yes, I know it’s bizarre. You could also be expelled for drinking alcohol. Even if you were over 21. Even if you were a fifty-year-old adult student drinking inside your own home. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/8 "2003-11-15T00:18:23Z")
I was slightly less amused by this thread when I saw that it was about what I would have described as “Christian students” not “Christianity students” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/9 "2003-11-15T01:06:19Z")
And here I was, in all my ignorant bliss, thinking _Footloose_ was entirely fictional… I’m still recovering from the shock that any students aren’t allowed to freaking _dance_. The mind boggles… ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/10 "2003-11-15T01:11:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lissa \* > Library? Ours was stocked with books like “In His Steps,” and a series of painfully boring religious biographies, all of which were written by the same woman. (I can still see the picture of her in the back cover: grim and glaring, wearing cats’-eye glasses.) There were only four bookshelves. The “science” section took up an entire case, consisting entirely of anti-evolution books, poorly bound, smearily printed, and peppered with numerous typos. That’s it. Screw this fighting ignorance shyte. I’m gonna throw my lot in with the winning side. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/11 "2003-11-15T01:19:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lezlers \* > **I’m still recovering from the shock that any students aren’t allowed to freaking _dance_.** Yeah, I’m guessing a good hard fuck is completely out of the question. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/12 "2003-11-15T01:32:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Giraffe \* > \*\*Yeah, I’m guessing a good hard fuck is completely out of the question. \*\* I dunno, **Giraffe** , after all, that _is_ the next step after the cha-cha… ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/13 "2003-11-15T01:48:00Z")
Why don’t Baptists have sex standing up? People might think they’re dancing. Dr. J (recovering Southern Baptist) ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/14 "2003-11-15T01:54:26Z")
Other choice tidbits: > [@](#): > > It was not until the 1990s that students and faculty were permitted to dance with spouses or relatives at family events such as weddings. \ > > Wheaton also eased its ban on alcohol and smoking for faculty and staff. They can now drink and light up off campus, as long as it is not in front of undergraduates. \ > > “We want to make students learn how to think critically, be discerning and learn how to make wise choices.” Is this in contrast to what you’ve been doing for the last 143 years? ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/15 "2003-11-15T02:22:16Z")
I live just a few miles from this place. It’s real… Interresting. Most tranquil college campus town I’ve ever seen. It’s actually kinda nice, but… Just weird. ---
**Author:** ![laigle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@laigle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laigle)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/16 "2003-11-15T03:03:31Z")
I went to Georgia Tech. We didn’t really have school dances. Or maybe they just were careful about who they told about them. Boy, that annual Star Trek festival though, that was a hoot. And you should have seen the anime-thon. Damn me for not going to a party school, damn me for not going to a party school… :smack: :smack: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/17 "2003-11-15T03:06:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lissa \* > \*\*My highschool had very similar rules. > > Dancing, movies and “secular” music and books were forbidden, even _after_ school hours. (I knew of one kid who was expelled because a teacher saw him wearing a Metallica t-shirt in a grocery store.) > > Our “prom” was held in a dispiritedly decorated church basement. We ate a catered dinner, then played Bible trivia games. > > Library? Ours was stocked with books like “In His Steps,” and a series of painfully boring religious biographies, all of which were written by the same woman. (I can still see the picture of her in the back cover: grim and glaring, wearing cats’-eye glasses.) There were only four bookshelves. The “science” section took up an entire case, consisting entirely of anti-evolution books, poorly bound, smearily printed, and peppered with numerous typos. \*\* Was this actually a high school in an industrialized country? I mean, the more of this stuff I hear, the more I’m becoming really, really happy I live where I do. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/18 "2003-11-15T03:12:06Z")
My wife grew up in that town and her father was a professor at that school for a number of years. Her parents used to frequent a local restaurant owned by a Greek man named Jimmy. Lots of the students and faculty ate there. They would order “Greek tea” with their meals which was wine in a coffee cup. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/19 "2003-11-15T04:24:26Z")
If you guys think that’s bad, one of my Krsna-conscious friends wouldn’t eat anything with Tabasco sauce on it, because his sect warned that it had the potential to “excite the genitals.” I agree, but only if you’re eating that wet burrito naked. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336/20 "2003-11-15T04:53:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hajario \* > \*\*My wife grew up in that town and her father was a professor at that school for a number of years. Her parents used to frequent a local restaurant owned by a Greek man named Jimmy. Lots of the students and faculty ate there. They would order “Greek tea” with their meals which was wine in a coffee cup. > > Haj \*\* You wife had a “Jimmy the Greek” in her town? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-giant-leap-for-christianity-students/213336.md?page=2)