Kevin Roose Undercover at Liberty University

Brown University senior Kevin Roose spent a semester at Jerry Falwell-founded Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA, and chronicled his adventures in The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University.

While most of his fellow students took a semester to study abroad, Roose decided to enter the evangelical fundamentalist stronghold of Liberty and document his experience there. He says didn't really know what to expect but thought maybe he'd encounter people who were staunch, unwaivering demagogues who went about spouting self-righteous dogma. However, after living with the students, eating in the lunch rooms, conversing on campus, studying in classes, and even going on a couple dates Roose confesses that they weren't at all like he thought. He says they are "normal people" who have the same kinds of concerns as the rest of us and are even quite reflective about their beliefs and practices.

Though he had to sign the university's 46-page code of conduct, which includes no drinking, cursing, or hugging for longer than 3 seconds, and admits that some parts of their lifestyle were challenging for him being raised a secular-liberal, he relates that he learned a lot and that he grew significantly as a person due to his encounter with people at Liberty.

Roose's story is an instructive lesson in what it means to really engage with the "other." Some of us who are rather progressive in our outlook sometimes criticize fundamentalism as not being open enough to other perspectives. However, even though many of us claim to maintain an an acceptive worldview, we must always be careful not to become intolerant and derisive of fundamentalists by failing to attempt to better understand and learn from their viewpoints. To be truly open and receptive we must not exclude conservative-minded people from our consideration. This doesn't, of course, means total agreement, but it does involve striving to imagine where they're coming from and seeing their perspective as having inherent value and importance.

Roose serves as a prime example of engaging with those who are different than yourself (in this case, evangelical fundamentalists) and how that can lead to surprising personal growth and development, which is integral to building a better, more peaceful world situation.

Read interviews of Roose by Newsweek and the RNS.