WP: 5 Professors Quit Religious School, Patrick Henry College

[DeepModem Mom]

PATRICK HENRY COLLEGE
5 Professors Quit Religious School
Some Complain of Academic Constraints at Loudoun Institution
By Michael Alison Chandler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 19, 2006; Page B05

Nearly a third of the faculty members at Patrick Henry College in Loudoun County are leaving the school because of what they described as limitations on their academic freedom, causing unusual introspection at the politically connected Christian liberal arts college.

They claim that Patrick Henry College, established in 2000 to attract academically gifted home-schoolers with the hope of send them on to work on Capitol Hill or at the White House, does not value equally both parts of its mission: to offer students a strong biblical perspective while educating them according to a classical liberal arts curriculum. In one case, the professors said, faculty members were reprimanded for writing that the Bible "is not the only source of truth."

"I'm leaving the college because I want freedom," said David C. Noe, assistant professor of classics. He said he came to Patrick Henry in its first year expecting to find "a liberal arts college that will be the new Ivy League" -- as the school bills itself -- but instead found a place where classical works by non-Christian authors are sometimes considered suspect and where there is an increasingly narrow view of Christianity.

The departure of five of the school's 16 full-time professors follows the forced resignation last year of Jeremy Hunley, a library clerk who promoted the idea that baptism is essential for salvation, a violation of the 10-point statement of faith that all faculty members and students are required to sign when they come to Patrick Henry. According to the statement, and to many evangelical Christians, salvation is found only through faith in Jesus Christ.

The rebellion reflects the recurring tension at many Christian colleges between adherence to articles of faith and the free-ranging spirit of academic inquiry. Some departing faculty, alumni and students say it calls into question the future of a college that was established as an "evangelical Ivy League" that would prepare conservative Christian students for influential positions in government....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/18/AR2006051801995.html

[Dudley_DUright]

1. and this is different from a fundamentalist Islamic madrasah

how exactly? :shrug:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrasah

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Easy question. No Korans.

[BrklynLiberal]

8. Exactly. Different texts, but same fanatic concepts.

[anoraksia53]

9. this is scary stuff

and it has nothing to do with Religion.....Didya see the latest on the Yuricareport.com???

I'm glad those professors left but a school like that......well should it even be open at all? Is it really a school or just a brainwashing factory?

[Canuckistanian]

2. Academic Cleansing

This is a disturbing trend. Classics have always co-existed with religious instruction. This has been the case at prestigious universities for centuries.

A well-rounded education is no longer such a valued goal at these religious colleges. Many seem to be devolving into "Bob Jones" type institutions.

I'm especially disturbed by the "Darwinist" comments and the implication that other ideologies have no value.

It seems like an attitude of "Those who deviate from the 'true path' must be eliminated".

[Orangepeel]

4. the professors seem to be cleaning themselves

apparently, this college didn't devolve into a Bob Jones, it was created in 2000 to be a Bob Jones.

The professors were right to quit, IMO, but I do wonder what they thought they were getting into in the first place.

[Teaser]

10. academic jobs can be tough to come by

or so I've found.

[Orangepeel]

16. sure they are

which is why I think the professors were right to quit. they were never working at a "real" university.

[ithacan]

5. "college" should be in quotes

this is not an institution of higher education. It is a glorified sunday school. Sunday school is fine but you learn a very limited amount there.

It is outrageous if this place has actually been accredited!! Has it?

[CPMaz]

17. Based on their website, I would say not.

http://www.phc.edu/admissions/AuthorizationAccreditation.asp

They highlight their membership in (not accreditation by) the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS).

They stated that they were "awarded Candidate status as a Category II institution by the TRACS Accreditation Commission on April 9, 2003; this status is effective for a period of five years".

That's not "accreditation"; that's "we've paid lots of money called bribes...errr....'membership fees' so that we can mention the accreditation organization in our literature and on our website."

In addition, the tracs.org website doesn't list them as accredited, just as a candidate school. (so PHC's website is accurate in this regard).

[struggle4progress]

30. The Bible College That Leads to the White House

Published on Wednesday, April 21, 2004 by the Independent/UK

The campus is immaculate, everyone is clean-cut and cheerful. But just what are they teaching at Patrick Henry College? And why do so many students end up working for George Bush?

by Andrew Buncombe

... No, what makes Patrick Henry unique is the increasingly close - critics say alarmingly close - links this recently established, right-wing Christian college has with the Bush administration and the Republican establishment as a whole. This spring, of the almost 100 interns working in the White House, seven are from Patrick Henry. Another intern works for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign, while another works for President George Bush's senior political adviser, Karl Rove. Yet another works for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad. Over the past four years, 22 conservative members of Congress have employed one or more Patrick Henry interns. Janet Ashcroft, the wife of Bush's Bible-thumping Attorney General, is one of the college's trustees ...

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0421-09.htm

[n2doc]

6. The "well rounded education" part is wallpaper

What they really provide is a place to further indoctrinate the next generation of Xtian theocrats. Gotta keep them kids away from outsiders until they are old enough to be set in their ways. Sad that they use a patriot's name to hide behind their crap. They should call themselves "The University of Jezus, inc."

[ismnotwasm]

7. This bothers me

"The college has ambitions to place conservative Christian graduates in positions of influence, where they will help reshape American culture. Since the school opened six years ago, its student body has grown from 88 students to 300, and it has sent students to prized internships at the White House and on Capitol Hill."

So not only a trend toward fundamentalism, which takes that Christ out of Christian as far as I'm concerned,(I'm agnostic, but it seems that way to me)The are deliberately trying to erase the line between Church and State? What does "reshape American culture" mean exactly?

Unfortunately, I think I know the answer. How horrible.

[Neurotica]

12. Their influence doesn't end there

Aside from serving in disproportionate numbers in DC internships, PHC students also serve in local government. Several are aides to Loudoun County supervisors, and many are shipped to various areas across the country to work campaigns.

The goal is to establish a pipeline and get the kids the experience they need to later get elected or appointed.

Scary, especially because this strategy has generally been effective, despite the philosophical disagreements at the school.

[progressivebydesign]

14. An absolute move toward theocracy. No doubt about it.

People should be very, very, concerned that our government (for which we spend many months a year funding) is turning into a religious institution.

[JohnnyLib]

11. a faith-based thought

you know, we could take this as demonstrating that there is a God, and that She is working through at least 5 professors.

[NashVegas]

13. Southern Baptist Convention Fired the Trustees at Belmont

Because the Trustees wanted to open up board seats to non-Baptists, and were pursuing the idea of splitting.

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section_id=9&screen=news&news_id=49715

[Dudley_DUright]

19. My university split long ago from the SBC

Thank God!

[phylny]

35. We're in the process of looking at colleges for one of our daughters.

She's interested in a small school with ties to the Methodist Church, which I don't mind at all (we've attended Presbyterian and Methodist churches in the past).

However, I draw the line at some of the Baptist universities that we've looked at. When speaking with representatives, I feel that there'll be too much focus on theology, and not enough on helping her get the well-rounded education that she's going to need to succeed in the world.

[KamaAina]

15. "The new Ivy League"?!

as the school bills itself...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NEVER! The "old" Ivy League spent centuries extricating itself from the smothering embrace of Puritan Christianity. Now these roundheads want to bring it back?! :grr: :banghead:

KamaAina Y'85

[Orsino]

22. Oxymoron.

Like "compassionate conservative" and "religious right."

[RoseMead]

18. And this "college" is named

after Patrick "Give me liberty or give me death" Henry? What's that strange whirring sound, coming from about six feet below the ground? Sounds like something violently spinning...

[jwirr]

20. I went to a Christian College so I have had some experience

with this issue. While I wholeheartedly support their desire for academic freedom in classical education, I question their right to teach other religious theologies.

When one joins a church they are asked to agree with the confessional teachings of that church and it's institutions. If they do not agree then they have the choice of joining another religion/church that sees things their way. Likewise, the content of the religious classes at this college. This college was established by the church to teach it's beliefs. That is what a Christian college is all about. It is part of freedom of religion to be able to teach your own doctrines in your own churches/institutions.

That said, I would say that evangelicals usually do not want their members to think for themselves so the education they offer will never allow a truly classical education. These professors are correct in that they were not allowed the freedom to teach what they wanted in non-religious classes.

[tenshi816]

27. Hmm.

My children aren't in college yet, but they do attend Catholic schools where they are taught, naturally, Catholic doctrine in their Religious Education classes. They are also taught about other religions, including Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and many others. In addition, they've studied the creation myths and beliefs of pre-Christian cultures and Native Americans. This has greatly enriched their religious education and helped them to understand and appreciate religious diversity and to ask questions. The Catholic Church, surprisingly, has no problem with this approach to teaching Religious Education in the UK.

Then again, Patrick Henry College doesn't want its students to think for themselves. An inquiring mind is a difficult thing to control.

Edited to add that the WaPo article states that the faculty members weren't teaching religion classes, but were rather being restricted by PHC from teaching their non-religious subjects properly. The Bible has no place in, for example, a class on government or rhetoric (two of the departing profs taught those subjects). The academic freedom of these faculty members was being curtailed.

[jwirr]

34. Yes and that is a VERY good reason to walk out. Any education

that is not well rounded with many different ideas is no education at all. It is merely brainwashing. My Lutheran college education was much like the one you describe for your children. It is very sad that some private schools insist on mediocre educations for their students. In the end those students will suffer for it.

[fshrink]

21. They should be stoned to death.

Or crucified maybe. Why would you want to teach in such an epicenter of stupidity anyways?

[mitchum]

23. When one lies down with superstitious dogs...

I applaud the professors for quitting that nuthouse, but just what did they think they were originally signing up for?

[Hardrada]

24. This can go both ways. I attended a Lutheran college

which was basically a fundamentalist Bible academy (with a really great music department) until 1962 at which point the wonderful old college dean had had enough and sided with the religion profs who were not literalists! And all the fundie religion profs quit and the campus pastor. AND THE ENTIRE BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT!! (What could they have been teaching??) So by the time I got to this college it had managed to get into the Twentieth Century and has steamed along forward since then.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

25. I attended a Lutheran college where our required Bible course taught all

about the multiple origins of the Bible, the civilizations that existed in the area during Biblical times, and had us discuss varying interpretations of Biblical passages.

We were required to take a religion course every year, and during my senior year, I took one called Studies in Genesis, where we delved more into textual criticism and studied the evolution/creationism controversy. (It was a short unit--nobody in the class had any problem with evolution.)

[Hardrada]

26. Our college had EVOLVED to that stage by the time I got there

but we had to take more than one course in religion, a class on the OT and one on the NT and another elective. I was pre-sem in my later college years so of course I took all the Xianity and philosophy classes. Quiz question for you: What is proof-texting?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

29. It's finding a Bible verse that "proves" whatever doctrine you

want to prove. Right?

Les sanglots longs des violons blessent mon coeur d'un langeur monotone--or something like that.

[Hardrada]

32. You are correct. And it is a technique the fundies

(including the LCMS) use to show the Bible is inerrant. They quote I Peter (I think it is) and a few other NT verses that say the Scriptures are divinely inspired. And who could argue with that??

You translated the Verlaine. You probably know who responded to it when it came over the radio.

[SquireJons]

28. Perhaps they see the writing on the walls?

Back in 2000, conservatives were wetting themselves at the prospect of republicans and conservative christians becoming the 'permanent dominant political force in america.' Of course that was before all of the scandals got out of control, before our crusade in the middle east went sour, and before bush's popularity and approval ratings began approaching 'cold death' numbers. So... maybe they wont be the dominant political force in america after all, and rats are known to leave sinking ships. Hopefully this ship is in deep water and it won't bother me at all when the sharks start to circle.

[PatGund]

31. Something To Keep In Mind....

This is NOT an accredited college. A degree from this place is a fancy piece of paper.

It's geared and marketed towards students that have come out of conservative religious home schooling. Which means the student population has had, in many respects, a very narrow, biased, sheltered view towards the world. And they're being programmed (for that's the only word that applies here) to continue the relgious right mindset and political viewpoint.

So, in contract to a real education, where students are presented many different viewpoints and attitudes and are taught to evaluate and examine each side of an arguement, they're taught to follow and accept the relgious right viewpoint hook, line, and fishing pole, to not question or examine things critically, to not look at all sides of an arguement, but to accept a single viewpoint and reject anything that doesn't fit into that viewpoint.

The teachers must have known all this going in and agreed to teach under such restrictions - and the fact that, even knowing such, they STILL found it restrictive and stifling, speaks loads about the school and it's agenda.

This is not a college for eduction. It is a trade school for shock troops and political operatives.

[OneAngryDemocrat]

33. And How so WHITE they all are...

http://www.phc.edu/studentlife/default.asp

http://www.phc.edu/about/trustees/default.asp

And make sure you take a peek at the school's administration, and President...

Not a 'colored' among the lot.

PHC is the ''Perfect'' school for God's ''Perfect People''.

I think I am going to be sick.

[lovuian]

36. Trying to change the colleges and the way they teach even

the teachers couldn't stomach the conservative christianity...