Academia and the fear of godlessness
I have for years been fearful of the educated.
There is a general fear as well among Christians at the University of Oregon where I serve that a PhD stands for “Personally hate deity”. A recent study by Harvard attempted to show the higher the level of atheism the higher one moves in academia, in particular the realm of Psychology and Biology. This is not surprising.
Yes, 23.4% of professors profess no definite faith, but that means that 76.6% of professors do. Regardless of the content of their faith, it blows my mind that so many educated folks find faith a reasonable and viable option particularly in the realm of the academic institution.
It is very dangerous to equate education with athiesm. It does not appear that anyone is trying to do that in this study, but the statistics speak loudly. The dangerous thing to me isn’t that academia appears to be somewhat un-Christian, it worries me that most Christians don’t go to those specific institutions, but opt for a “Christian” education. It makes education Christian and not, so bifurcated and, unfortunately, keeps brilliant Christians out of secular Universities, and likewise brilliant athiests are kept out of Christian Universities. They could teach us a ton.
Jennifer Whittington wrote:
Amen!
I am a recent college graduate with a degree in fine art and graphic design. I have actually taken several psychology classes and found them amazing, and very enlightening to various things about human nature and mental illness.
Of course, when keeping the Bible as your authority on truth, education simply provides you with a wealth of information in which to talk with others and take a stand for the truth you believe in. I have found it also helps bridge the gap when I am talking with someone who believes intelligence and faith are on two separate playing fields.
Currently I am reading a book called, “Modern Art and the Death of a Culture” (by H.R. Rookmaaker, a christian art critic from the 70s) He makes a very sad but I think true point, and that is that Christians often live with the mindset that culture is outside of them; instead of something that they are in and can significantly affect. Here’s an excerpt that is amazing:
“I used the phrase ‘how a Christian should live and act’ rather than ‘a Christian’s attitude to culture’ advisedly. For we can easily slip into the mistake of making Christianity and culture two distinct entities quite separate from each other. Then, if we find we are in difficulties in resolving the two, the mistake may well be that we are trying to bring together two different things which we have separated artificially. Culture is the result of man’s creative activity within God-given structures. So it can never be something apart from our faith. All our work is ultimately directed by our answer to the question of who- or what- our God is, and where for us the ultimate source of all reality and life lies. So our resulting ‘culture’ can never be something separate from our ‘faith’. This is just as true for those that do not acknowledge the true God, the Creator; their cultural activity is colored by their basic non-Christian faith. For the Christian the problem remains of how we have to deal with the culture around us, often the fruit of non-Christian departure. But then this is dealt with at length and depth in the Bible itself: it is even one of its main concerns, and bound up with its teaching on sin, redemption and santification. ….He (the Christian) has been given the power of God Himself by the Holy Spirit, who will help him to work out his new life into the world around him. He is the ’salt of the earth’, keeping society from corruption, and giving savour to every aspect of life.”
Wow, that was long, but I hope you enjoy it! Here’s to being salt and not afraid of education!
In Him,
Jenny
Posted on 05-May-07 at 10:09 am | Permalink
Holly wrote:
I totally know what you mean. As a science major, sometimes I feel like believing in God seems cliche. It’s a tough balance also with evolution and everything–I hate with Christians say “I don’t believe in evolution”. because it’s a spectrum, ya know, I mean there is micro-evolution going on all around us all the time but that doesn’t mean that we evolved from monkeys. it’s hard in school when I learn stuff and I think “I dunno if I should believe that or not.”
makes me think.
Posted on 06-Aug-07 at 9:15 pm | Permalink
Holly wrote:
er, wrote my wrong webpage up there.
and I meant to say I hate WHEN (not with) Christians say they don’t believe in evolution.
Posted on 06-Aug-07 at 9:17 pm | Permalink