Christian Colleges Stay the Course

Insight on the News, August 30, 1999 by Michael Rust

Christian colleges committed to faith-centered education are thriving, despite the increasing secularization of society. But can they remain true to their original vision?

When is a Christian college no longer Christian? Pretty often, actually. Most of the private universities and colleges in the United States have roots in one of the major Christian denominations, but time, ambition and money tend to strip these religious trappings from the institutions. Of the 1,600 private four-year institutions of higher education in the United States, approximately half historically are "church-related."

However, most of these long since have moved away from their roots. Indeed, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, or CCCU, an association of 95 regionally accredited member schools in the country, as well as three in Canada, describes its members as "committed to the integration of biblical faith, scholarship and service," in contrast presumably to their more secular brethren.

But, surprisingly for these secular times, religious colleges and universities are holding their own and then some. Some statistics:

* Enrollment went up 24 percent at CCCU member schools between 1990 and 1996. According to the U.S. Department of Education, there was an increase of only 5 percent at non-religious private schools and 4 percent at public universities in the same six years. Nominally religious-affiliated schools, such as Georgetown University in Washington and Notre Dame University in South Bend, Ind. (which are both Roman Catholic) and the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn. (which is Episcopalian), had an 11 percent increase in enrollment.

* The Student Satisfaction Survey, a widely used evaluation tool, showed that students at the Christian schools had higher satisfaction ratings than students at other private schools.

* Forty-seven percent of freshmen at CCCU member schools had "A" averages in high school, compared with 35 percent of freshman at all other private colleges.

* Average tuition at CCCU member schools was $11,463 for the 1998-99 academic year, compared with the average tuition at other private schools of $14,508.

* In 1990, CCCU colleges had 97,000 undergraduates. Today, the CCCU calculates, they have more than 130,000. Some were attracted by the academic curriculum; others seek the heightened personal attention available at smaller schools. Others simply went where their parents were willing to pay for them to attend. But most seem to want what they describe as a combination of values, spiritual growth and faith that is lacking at more-secular institutions.

"It was isolated, but not in a negative way," Moriah Thomson tells Insight. Thomson is a 1996 graduate of Pensacola Christian College, a non-denominational school in Florida. Today, Thomson is anything but isolated as producer for the nationally syndicated radio talk show Janet Parshall's America, originating from Arlington, Va., across the river from Washington. During Thomson's four years at the heavily Baptist college, enrollment shot up from 2,300 to 3,500.

More than 300 majors are offered by the CCCU member schools. At the same time, other Christians spurn this emphasis on broad study in favor of "Bible colleges."

This split has its roots in the last part of the 19th century when evangelical Protestants, regarding Darwin and the growing modernity of mainline denominations as threats, were urged to adopt "dispensationalism" -- a British import that foretold the end of the world and explained the 1,000-year period spoken of in the Bible. At the same time, others embraced the "holiness" movement, which gave rise to a host of Pentecostal churches and which relies entirely on the power of the Holy Spirit, eschewing reason and empiricism.

Much of this had great appeal; it also sowed the seeds of dissension. "Postmillenarians" believed Christ would come after conversion of the world, while "premillenarians" believed the Lord would return before an era of tribulation. One group believed in improving the world before Christ's return, while the other saw the world, in the words of turn-of-the-century evangelist Billy Sunday, as a "sinking ship" in which faith was the "lifeboat."

This divergence had direct consequences. "Post-mills" built liberal-arts colleges; "pre-mills" founded Bible colleges, taking their cue from Chicago's Moody Bible Institute. Post-mills were open to science and direct dealings with modern scholarship; pre-mills rejected it.

For all their relative openness, of course, when it comes to students' daily lives, many Christian colleges differ markedly from their more worldly brethren. Most Christian colleges enforce general codes of conduct, with almost universal bans on alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs. Some even forbid jeans, sneakers and shorts in academic buildings. And, in stark contrast to the mixed-sex dorms common to most secular colleges, many limit room visits between the sexes except during specified hours, if permitted at all.