Millau Viaduct, France (A little scary?)
From the Albert Mohler program today:
http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_show.php?cdate=2007-05-08
The Institute for Jewish and Community Research recently conducted a poll of American college professors, asking them to rate their feelings toward specific religious groups. The report points to one glaring fact -- a majority of the polled faculty members said they held "unfavorable" views of American evangelicals. Professor Cary Nelson, president of the American Association of University Professors, joins us on today's program to assess the significance of the study.
Albert Mohler states that Evangelical Christians and Mormons are the two most unpopular religious groups among professors...surprise, surprise. As soon as I heard that Evangelicals were first, I figured Mormons would be next. Evangelical Christians received a 53% unfavorable rating. Personally, I am both conservative and evangelical, but prefer to describe myself as conservative since it explains my basic theological understanding without the cultural baggage. I basically had to quit my first PhD appointment in England because I was told that I would need to change my Christian views to secular if I wished to pass. I was informed by my temporary advisor, a well-known philosopher of religion that I have quoted on thekingpin68 and in my dissertations, that I would not pass if I insisted on believing that God created the world even though the problem of evil existed. This man is an encyclopedia of knowledge but of questionable morality. When I wanted to transfer my appointment to an affiliated Christian college and receive the same degree from the University, this professor told the review board that he had never made any such comments and that I knew I could not do the work and therefore wanted to quit. Well, what garbage reasoning is that from an educated man? If I knew I could not do the work, why did I seek a transfer to a Christian college where I would have to do the same amount of work to earn the same degree from the same University? I would have loved to have gone public with this blatant mistreatment, but I needed to find another place to continue my education and have been affiliated with Wales for most of the time since.
Somehow miraculously I have managed to complete a 180 page MPhil dissertation,with no revisions after marking, and the theoretical portion of a PhD, even though I know I cannot do the work.
Seriously, I thank God for all his help.
Why did I deduce that Mormons would follow Evangelicals in unpopularity? Since in the American context both often support conservative social and political positions, and are well-known.
ReplyDelete180 pages! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteI am not surprised in the slightest to hear about the evident bias against Christianity among college professors.
I'm a philosophy minor, and every single one of my profs in the philosophy department are explicitly anti-Christian, proselytizing atheists. (Which wouldn't bother me in the slightest... except for the "proselytizing" part). Their office doors are covered with little signs mocking religious belief. I'm not kidding. It has caused me a lot of trouble.
When I was a freshman, I was willing to write/say/do whatever would get me an A in the class. I'd spit back whatever my teacher wanted to hear. Now that feels like intellectual dishonesty, and as an older student I'm not willing to do it anymore. As a result, I end up arguing with my philosophy professors a lot. It does get old, especially since my beliefs were not arrived at blindly and don't threaten my professors in any way.
It gets really interesting when I'm writing about ethics and morality. I haven't been failed yet, but I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Good words Ruthie, and I was waiting and hoping for your comments with this article. I respect your stand for academic freedom and intellectual integrity. A greater problem with arguing with secular professors can occur when one is being graded for a dissertation only, and failing the dissertation means failing the degree and not just the course!
ReplyDeleteI just answered your new comments on thekingpin68 by the way.
linking
What I want to know is this, Why do the professors hate Christians? What are the so bent out of shape about. Why do they flunk you if you dont agree with what they believe. Seems your not allowed to think for yourself, if you have to agree with them. Just curious. Rick b.
ReplyDeletePS, Hello Ruthie, I live in MN also. St paul to be exact.
Good questions Rick. In the case of my professor in England he was and is a very educated man, likely quite influenced by Eighteenth-Century Enlightenment era thought and modern liberal religious thought. Many people within these movements tend to discount basic orthodox Christian theology and world-views. This professor told me that I was not educated and should not have been accepted into the program. At that point I had earned first class honours with a BA in Biblical Studies and Master of Theological Studies. Many modern liberals discount God's supernatural revelation and reasoned theology that would develop and instead value reason as a means for human scholars to figure out God, if there is one, and to develop useful and true human religion, or no religion at all.
ReplyDeleteSo, Rick, this professor, his department, and review committee had no great difficulty making it so hard for me that I quit and moved elsewhere. A word of encouragement as I have found that if a conservative Christian knows his/her material well and presents it well, the arrogance of some of the liberal British religious scholars tends to diminish somewhat as they do not find one as easy to defeat intellectually as they thought, or find it very likely to occur at all.
What I find to be really sad is, they claim to have some sort of morality, yet they wont allow you to think for yourself and push their beliefe upon you or fail you if you refuse to believe what they believe. Rick b
ReplyDelete