I don’t know much about Shorter University in Rome, Georgia. What I do know is what I read yesterday—that it’s a Christian university associated with the Georgia Baptist Convention and that it has decided to be consistent with that convention’s beliefs by asking its employees to sign a pledge indicating their agreement with the basic tenets of the church. To me, that’s only common sense. If you say “this is what we believe and this is what we seek to teach our students,” you should expect your professors and other staff to be in concert with your goals.

The pledge, though, has now become a center of controversy. More than fifty professors and staff have resigned rather than sign it. Why? What awful points of doctrine and/or practice are included? Here’s what university employees must agree to:

• No homosexual lifestyle
• No pre-marital sex
• No adultery
• No drug use
• Be an active member of a church
• Live as committed, Bible-believing followers of Jesus Christ

My, how oppressive! A Christian university actually expecting their employees, including professors who are supposed to be teaching within a Biblical worldview, to live as Christians! [Note: I don't usually go overboard using exclamation points, but they seemed to apply this time.]

Let’s keep in mind this is a private Christian university that has the authority to set up whatever ground rules it considers appropriate. Not being involved in sexual immorality and not being a druggie would seem to me to be minimum requirements for any institution that claims to be Christian. Yet, as can be expected, this has created a firestorm.

What bothers me the most about this is that some of those who resigned had been there for many years. One of the librarians was openly homosexual. This university doesn’t seem to have cared a whole lot about its Christian commitment for quite some time. By being lax in its internal discipline, it opened the door for the current controversy. If it had been consistently Christian from the start, this would be no big deal now. Therefore, it is now suffering the consequences of its previous policies.

All that said, I congratulate the university now for its attempt to set things straight, so to speak. But this is an object lesson for all Christian colleges and universities: be warned—you may go through a similar rough patch if you aren’t being faithful to Biblical standards now. We need to keep in mind these bracing words from the apostle Peter:

For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

Indeed.

The end of the semester nears; my classes are winding down this week. Teaching university students can be a joy one minute and a frustration the next. To any of my students reading this, let me emphasize that I like you and that I believe I am carrying out God’s will to be there. Some days are quite fulfilling, and I can’t imagine doing anything else.

But there are obstacles to overcome, in general, with the present generation. All that talk about short attention spans and apathy is all too often real. There are times when I feel like I have to be an entertainer to keep their attention. Boring one’s students seems to be the greatest possible sin.

Not that I think I’m all that boring, but one definitely has to be called by God to continue on the “down” days. My desire is to bring new information to them that will cause them to think more seriously about God’s claim on their lives. At the very least, I would like them to grasp key principles to help them analyze the trends in our culture. One of the reasons, though, why the current generation may not be up to speed on these principles may be the quality of the professors they are forced to take in their courses:

It’s a long uphill struggle, and it has been for the twenty-three years I’ve taught at this level. The society overall is no longer very attuned to eternal truths, or even the idea of truth. We want to be entertained instead:

Timeless truth is a hard sell nowadays, but I’m grateful for the opportunities I have to explain how that truth applies to history, politics, government, and the culture. When you know God’s call, it makes all the difference.

There are some days I just want to do comics. Congratulations, you’ve stumbled across one of those days. Enjoy these [in no particular thematic order]:

Unless I can replenish my comics supply, I’ll actually have to think of things to say tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Occasionally, people comment on my selection of cartoons for this blog. They seem impressed by the ones I use to connect to pressing topics. It’s not really that difficult. First, I just check out the best political cartoons each day to find the ones that are most appropriate. There’s one particular comic strip, though, that is always fresh, and I’m not sure how many are aware of it. It’s one of my favorites—Mallard Fillmore. I find that name especially fitting for an American history professor.

Here’s a blurb about the comic strip that pretty much explains it:

Mallard Fillmore continues to be one of the most highly contentious and celebrated comic strips, providing a unique conservative viewpoint to the comics pages. Mallard Fillmore has been a lightning rod for controversy with the right-leaning duck addressing hot button issues and lampooning liberal politicians, the media, and cultural establishments.

So true. Here are some examples I’ve been storing this month:

An economics lesson that few will ever learn. Yet it’s made quite clear in just one panel. And how about this one ridiculing our fear of profiling?

Lately, he’s been combining  a couple of worthy targets: modern “higher” education and liberal discrimination:

Keep up the good work, duck. Don’t be frightened by political correctness. There are too few voices like yours.

Yesterday’s topic was unions. I wrote quite a bit. How about if I keep it short and simple today? Same theme, though, brought to you by our friends at the National Education Association, where seniority is everything and quality education is not an issue. After all, what’s really most important, right?

To all the very good teachers out there, this was not directed at you. The establishment is the problem. For some eye-opening revelations, try Googling the NEA’s annual resolutions. Doing one’s own research can be quite rewarding.

I just read through the results of a recent survey of Christian school graduates [pre-college] that sought to determine whether graduates from those Christian schools were achieving the goals of the schools—academic excellence, spiritual formation, and the engagement of the larger culture. Some of those results are heartening, while one in particular is discouraging, to me at least.

The positives for Protestant Christian schools, the ones with which I am most familiar and am closer to in spirit, can be summarized this way: their graduates are

uniquely compliant, generous, outwardly-focused individuals who stabilize their communities by their uncommon commitment to their families, their churches, and larger society. Graduates of Christian schools donate money significantly more than graduates of other schools, despite having lower household income. Similarly, graduates of Protestant Christian schools are more generous with their time, participating far more than their peers both in service trips for relief and development and in mission trips for evangelization.

That’s a very good report, revealing that a Christian education does indeed make a difference. So I should simply be happy with that and not nitpick anything else, right? Well, there was one glaring omission in their education, in my estimation. The report goes on to say that those same graduates, when it comes to politics, are basically indifferent. Here are the exact words from the report:

Not only are Christian school graduates avoiding political action—donating less than their peers to political causes and reporting weak involvement in political campaigns and protests—Christian school graduates, and particularly Protestant Christian school graduates, report a surprisingly low interest in politics altogether. They report avoiding conversations with colleagues, family, and friends while their peers from non-religious private schools reported engagement in political discussions in all spheres of their lives.

The survey notes that this apathy toward anything political is also found in the administrators of these schools, thereby indicating why the students turn out apathetic themselves. They are merely mirroring their mentors. The conclusion?

While cultural engagement most certainly includes more than political action, culture is profoundly influenced in the political sphere. If Christian school graduates are not participating in politics, we might conclude the opinions and values of this population are being excluded from contemporary political dialogue and cultural influence.

The survey itself seems to be relieved, though, that these graduates are not becoming “right-wing political radicals,” a relief I don’t share. Of course I disagree with the characterization of right-wing being some kind of fringe radicalism, but that’s another discussion. What bothers me is the fact that these Christian school graduates are so alienated from any interest in the political/governmental realm. I’ve noted before that the students I teach are, by and large, ignorant of any basic Biblical principles that form the foundation for government and politics. It appears we still have a problem with a false dichotomy: anything spiritual cannot be connected to anything political.

Wrong. Without the spiritual underpinnings, politics spins out of control and is doomed to be the plaything of selfishness and personal ego. Only those who have a strong spiritual/moral basis can keep this realm of our society under control. Christians need to be involved. Sadly, we have a long way to go to convince them.

This past week a new academic year began. I always enjoy the beginning of a new year. It can be that way when you believe you have a calling from God to do what you’re doing. I’ve used this blog on a number of occasions to express my gratitude for the opportunity I have to teach at Southeastern University, where I can provide a Biblical basis for every course and analyze American history through that Biblical lens. For me, there is no other way to teach. As Proverbs declares, reverence for the Lord is the beginning of both knowledge and wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One brings understanding. That’s what I desire for my students.

What Southeastern and I seek to do in higher education is not the norm. Spiritual goals are not at the heart of most students’ education. What is?

That’s funny and sad at the same time, but it pretty accurately depicts the cycle that traps most who enter the realm of higher education. For many, there’s no greater goal than to get a job and make money [a large portion of which goes to loan payback]. Is that what life is all about? I prefer to follow the words of Jesus instead:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. . . . For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Education should focus on the soul. This world is temporary; the soul lasts forever.