If you are unfamiliar with the recent piece on Christian higher education at the Detroit Free Press you can read it here. We responded to the piece here. I have learned that the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities has...
Council for Christian Colleges & Universities
The president of a new conservative organization of Christian colleges misrepresents those Christian schools who did not join his group
David Jesse, a journalist with the Detroit Free Press and a graduate of conservative evangelical Cornerstone University, has a long piece on Christian colleges titled “Some conservative Christian colleges see growth where other schools see declines.” Read it here. Let’s...
Biden administration says it wants to defend religious exemptions for schools
This is big news on the religious liberty front. I’m on the road, but hope to return to this story in the coming days. Here is Michelle Boorstein at The Washington Post: The Justice Department in a new court filing...
Judson College closes
Judson College, an Alabama Baptist women’s college and a member of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, has closed. Here is Inside Higher Ed: After teetering on the edge of closure for months, Judson College’s Board of Trustees voted...
What is going on at Bluefield College?
Bluefield College is a Christian college located in Bluefield, Virginia. (Bluefield College is not to be confused with Bluefield State College, a Historical Black College and University). It is a member of the Council of Christian Colleges & Universities. Recently,...
How are evangelical colleges are responding to the January 6, 2021 insurrection?
Several colleges have released statements: Shirley Hoogstra of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities acknowledged the insurrection’s connection to “systemic racism” and “racial disparities.” She also affirmed the Electoral College results. (Sadly, we need to mention this because so...
Does Trump have any support at evangelical colleges?
I haven’t much time to chat with my colleagues about politics this semester. I mostly go to campus to teach my classes and then return home for meetings and office hours via ZOOM. So I honestly don’t know if any...
What is happening (once again) at Taylor University?
James Spiegel, a philosopher professor at evangelical Taylor University, was reportedly fired for refusing to take down a video of him singing a song he wrote titled “Little Hitler.” Watch: Here is a Facebook post from Chris Date, a friend...
What is at stake for religious liberty in the latest SCOTUS decision?
Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled on three cases: Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, Altitude Express v. Zarda, and R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The court held that an employer who fires an individual merely for...
The Challenge of Christian Liberal Arts in This Pandemic and Beyond
Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota will cut thirty faculty positions this week. Today, at Messiah College, we learned about how the administration will cut seven million dollars from our budget over the course of the next five years. I...
Shirley Hoogstra of the CCCU Explains Fairness for All
Last week we introduced readers to the Fairness for All Act. Over at The Anxious Bench blog, historian Chris Gehrz has published his interview with Shirley Hoogstra, president of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). The CCCU is...
A Morning with Christian College Provosts and Student Life Leaders
I was in St. Petersburg, Florida yesterday with the provosts and student development administrators from schools affiliated with the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU). I spoke at a session titled “Christian Colleges in the Age of Trump: Challenges...
Do You Want To Know What Christian Colleges Are All About?
Watch this video from the Coalition for Christian Colleges & Universities: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vnWXWCKyTw&w=560&h=315] Needless to say, I am thrilled to see Messiah College president Kim Phipps featured in this video along with Shirley Mullen, president of Houghton College and a...
Talk: The State of the Evangelical Mind on Christian College Campuses
This 12-minute paper presentation is from the “State of the Evangelical Mind” conference in Indianapolis. The conference took place in Fall 2017. [vimeo 294166362 w=640 h=360] What Is the State of the Evangelical Mind on Christian College Campuses?, by John...
More on “Fairness for All”
What is “Fairness for All”? Get up to speed here. Over at Religion News Service, Yonat Shimron covers a motion championed by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities and the National Association of Evangelicals that is bound to bring...
A Southern Baptist Theologian Suggests that the CCCU-NAE “Fairness for All” Motion is the Work of Satan
I am not sure which part of Wayne Grudem‘s theology Midwestern Baptist Seminary professor Owen Strachan admires more: Grudem’s belief that women should serve as “compliments” to their husbands or his belief that the gift of prophecy is real. (Side...
The National Association of Evangelicals and Council for Christian Colleges and Universities Adopt a “Fairness for All” Motion
The National Association of Evangelicals and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities have endorsed “Fairness for All,” a legislative initiative to protect religious liberties alongside liberties for the LGBTQ community. This means that these organizations are endorsing so-called Sexual...
What is Happening (Again) at Taylor University?
In March we posted on disgruntled conservative employees at the evangelical Taylor University in Upland, Indiana. Today we learn that a Taylor professor kissed and inappropriately touched a student rape victim who sought his counsel. Here is a taste of...
The Author’s Corner with Adam Laats
Adam Laats is a professor of Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership at Binghamton University. This interview is based on his new book, Fundamentalist U: Keeping the Faith in American Higher Education (Oxford University Press, 2018). JF: What led you to write Fundamentalist U? AL: Over...
What is Happening at Taylor University?
Taylor University is an evangelical Christian college in Upland, Indiana. It is a great school. According to this piece at Christianity Today, the school appears to have a faction of conservative faculty and staff who believe that it is moving in...