Baylor "All Are Neighbors" counters Turning Point USA stop, emphasizing inclusion
National faith and civil rights advocates joined students at Baylor University on Wednesday to promote inclusion and what speakers described as a duty to love one's neighbor, in an event held in response to Turning Point USA's campus tour stop the same day.
The "All Are Neighbors" event, held on the fifth floor of Cashion Academic Center, marked the first time students were permitted to host prominent LGBTQ advocates on campus, according to event materials. The event was organized by Baylor's College Democrats group, NAACP Baylor, Students Demand Action at Baylor, Hearts for the Homeless and Texas Rising.
Baylor spokesperson Lori Fogleman said 270 tickets were scanned at the event, compared with 438 for Turning Point USA's "This Is the Turning Point" tour stop at Waco Hall.
Organizers said the event aimed to provide an alternative space for students who may not have felt represented or supported at the Turning Point event, while advancing a broader message that faith should promote dignity, belonging and solidarity rather than exclusion.
The program featured Kelley Robinson, president of Human Rights Campaign; Interfaith Alliance President and CEO the Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush; the Rev. Susie Hayward of the United Church of Christ; and Baylor English professor Greg Garrett, among others.
'No exceptions'
Raushenbush, who opened the event, said his identities as both a Baptist minister and gay man are not in conflict but "divinely bestowed upon me and my life," describing love of one's neighbor as a commitment to recognizing each person's inherent dignity and shared responsibility across differences.
"That each one of us in this room, and all across this campus - even at some other event that might be happening somewhere as well as all across the country and the world - each life is beautifully made, and is an embodiment of the image of God here on Earth - no exceptions," Raushenbush said.
He also pointed to the broader national climate, saying he believes living out that principle has become "hard and even dangerous work" as faith and politics are "weaponized and wielded like a bludgeon against opponents, with vulnerable communities being scapegoated and dehumanized."
"And yet … I see more and more people showing up, speaking out and making the choice to love their neighbor," he said. "Just as we are doing here. … I believe we are part of the next Great Awakening of the American people, a spiritual mobilization, inspired by diverse peoples and rooted in love for our neighbor and our democracy."
Robinson framed the gathering as part of a broader wave of civic engagement, calling it "powerful and profound" and an example of collective action on campus. She said democracy is an ongoing practice shaped by everyday participation, emphasizing that change is driven by consistent engagement rather than isolated moments.
"Democracy isn't something that happens on the first Tuesday in November," she said. "Democracy happens every day when we show up for it, for one another, when we demand that each of us has humanity and dignity and civil rights. That's what's happening right here."
She encouraged attendees to see their involvement as part of a longer continuum of social change, stressing that progress often begins as imagination and conviction before it becomes law.
"Every right we have today started as something that people had to believe in before they could see it," she said. "It was something that people dared to imagine. … We're not just reacting to this moment, we are manifesting a better and brighter and more free future."
On the margins
Garrett, a literature and culture professor, connected the discussion to Christian theology and public witness, emphasizing a call to serve people on the margins, including "the poor, the hungry, the immigrant, those in prison … everyone Jesus describes as the least of these."
Garrett also pushed back on what he described as "assumed victimhood" among some white Christians, arguing that faith calls for service rather than self-protection.
"I am a straight white Christian male, and I am not one of the least of these," he said. "Even though some white American Christians claim to be persecuted or that Christianity is under siege, this is not reality. … It is an affront to the actual teachings of our faith."
He then cited Martin Luther King Jr.'s retelling of the Good Samaritan, noting that King said love of neighbor requires a "dangerous unselfishness" in which the Samaritan "pushed past his fear" to help his neighbor.
Garrett connected that call to his own situation, noting he was placed on a Turning Point USA "professor watch list" two years ago that labeled him a "dangerous radical here to indoctrinate students."
"I am not crazy about being targeted by a watch list, and last Thursday … my Southern Baptist mother begged me, ‘please stop speaking out against this administration, because they are dangerous,'" Garrett said. "These do feel like dangerous times, dangerous for Baylor and higher education, dangerous for our nation, dangerous for the witness of the American church."
Caring for neighbors
Hayward, a minister based in Minneapolis, drew on her experience during Operation Metro Surge, a recent federal immigration enforcement operation, describing how communities organized to support one another as neighbors faced detention, fear and displacement.
She said the concept of loving one's neighbor, sometimes referred to as "neighborism," moves beyond belief into action, calling the operation a test of that principle and pointing to the Baylor gathering as an example of putting it into practice.
"It takes courage," Hayward said. "It means stepping out of your comfort zone and being willing to show up in costly solidarity with the most vulnerable, with those who are being dehumanized and targeted by those with power."
She said communities in Minneapolis were able to organize sustained, on-the-ground efforts to protect one another despite harsh conditions and limited resources, crediting a shared commitment to caring for neighbors as the driving force behind that response.
"And that love for one another that we have is what motivated us and empowered us, and in the end, it's what drove us to affirm the good news that the forces of hate and violence are mighty, but they are not almighty, and love will always win."
She closed by saying the "secret ingredient" of love was evident in the Baylor gathering, crediting students with "already living it out."
"I am here as a witness to that," Hayward said. "Blessings on your commitment and love of neighbors, which means loving everyone. Blessings on your practice of neighborliness, and may it transform you and all of us."
Everyday life
Baylor student Joanna Able, of Waco, said loving one's neighbor means treating everyday interactions as "an act of reverence," reflected in "small, daily decisions" to acknowledge others' worth, extend patience or simply be present.
"If God is truly omnipresent, then that presence doesn't stop within the church walls or sacred text," Able said. "It extends into the ordinary, the overlooked, and most importantly, the people around us."
She said that effort should extend across differences, saying Christians are "called to love our enemies, and that means seeing our enemies as neighbors."
"A future where we are all neighbors doesn't mean we suddenly erase our differences," Abel said. "It means that we learn how to look at those differences without losing sight of each other's dignity, even when our own dignity is not being recognized."
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