Why Do "Christian Universities" Stray


I was in state universities for more than four decades. When people say, "Universities are liberal, universities are conservative, universities are this and that.." I roll my eyes. Most universities are a mixture of competing minds, vested interests, monied alums, student activists and concerned parents.

All the while, administrators are dealing with a changing student populations, difficult faculty and money. What "universities are" is almost always something in flux. The self-righteous professor who wrote this laments the place he taught which was founded by Methodists to teach the faith but was filled with faculty, students and administrators trying to move the needle to modern times. He remains angry but now makes his living by catering in writing and speaking to right wing Christianity. The case he makes is repeated often, if churches and Christian universities would just pound the Bible more people would flock to them.

As pointed out here countless times, the right wing and largest Christian denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, has been declining by 10% a year for decades. Some big mega churches are do well for a while and then fail. Christian universities that do not cater to the broader population are failing and no amount of alum, parents or donors' pressure can, or has, changed that.

The way many in religion reason is peculiar. In a church, those who pay the preacher's/priest's salary are in the pews. Yet, some think the job of the one behind the pulpit is to criticize those customers. The restaurant owner usually does not walk around criticizing customers at the tables. That is not to say this latter never happens. I've seen a few times someone who went to chief school was certain he/she knew what food people should like. Soon, such places were gone. There are dozens of articles about Christianity published every day. Almost never does an author start with the assumption that those in the pews have the ultimate word in what the faith is about. Those who write do so because they want others to know they themselves are the ultimate authority on what others are to believe. 

The same thing happens in Christian universities. People outside the institution know what should go inside it. These views usually mean it will one day close. 


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