Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
Religiously Affiliated Colleges Need to Decide What’s First

Religiously Affiliated Colleges Need to Decide What’s First

Last updated on: September 28, 2022 at 3:00 am by John Beckett

Religiously Affiliated Colleges Need to Decide What’s First 2022-09-27T07:38:06-06:00 John Beckett

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Patheos editors recently suggested that bloggers from different religious traditions weigh in on the September edition of Deseret Magazine (a Mormon publication) and their special theme “Dare to Be Different.” Subtitled “the fate of the religious university,” it includes articles and essays from leaders at several prominent religiously-affiliated colleges and universities, including Brigham Young University, Catholic University, and Baylor University here in Texas.

These schools are feeling pressure to give up their religious distinctions: to relax or eliminate their codes of sexual conduct for students, to diversify their faculty hiring and bring in scholars from outside their religious tradition, and in general to become more like private secular institutions.

I have very mixed thoughts on this.

I’m an outsider to these conflicts

As a Pagan, I’m an outsider to these conflicts. Modern Paganism is a new religion (or religions, if you prefer). We have no colleges or universities. Cherry Hill Seminary is intended to provide “education and practical training in leadership, ministry, and personal growth in Pagan and Nature-Based spiritualities.” It does not provide undergraduate education – it trains Pagan community ministers.

My own education was in public universities: Tennessee Technological University as an undergraduate and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga as a graduate student. My primary and secondary education was in public schools. I did attend a Baptist kindergarten in the days before public kindergarten and pre-K programs were commonplace.

Religious schools can be good schools

I’ve spent almost 40 years working in business and industry, the last 20 of them here in Texas. I’ve had employees, managers, and coworkers from virtually every kind of college and university in the world. They have confirmed my belief that you can get a good education at any decent school – where you go is far less important than what you do while you’re there. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with me. Employment opportunities – especially at higher levels – are far more favorable for those who graduate from “big name” universities. That’s another rant for another time.

Ironically, the worst boss I ever had (worst as in “least effective”) was a Harvard graduate. But that’s a sample size of one and not especially relevant, except as a reminder that the label on a diploma only tells you so much.

I have Pagan friends who went to Baylor, which is a Baptist school. They tell me the education was first-rate and the religious requirements were manageable. I’ve also read complaints from fundamentalists who claim Baylor “isn’t Baptist enough.”

There are some religiously affiliated schools that provide inadequate, inferior education. The same is true of some secular schools (especially the for-profit online schools). But by and large, the education at religiously affiliated colleges and universities is comparable to that at secular institutions, and thus we have no reason to challenge their existence.

Religions have the right to draw their own boundaries

I’m a religious pluralist. I don’t believe that “deep down all religions the same.” But I do believe the world is better off with many diverse religions and I believe each person has the right to follow the religious path that calls to them. For some people that means a religion I worked hard to escape or another religion antithetical to my own. So be it. I will fight to prevent them from imposing their religion on the rest of us, but I will also fight for their right to practice their religion as they see fit – so long as they aren’t harming anyone else.

I am deeply disappointed that some Christian denominations have made archaic and patriarchal sexual mores the cornerstone of their religion. But within their circles, they have the right to do so – up to a point.

If they are operating as a religious institution – as a school for religious instruction – then they can choose their students, faculty, and other employees according to whatever standards they wish. If they are operating as an institution of higher learning – and especially if they expect to be accepted as “the same as everybody else, just different” – then there are no ethical or legal grounds to exempt them from non-discrimination laws.

Broad education or narrow?

I’m a Pagan. I would love to have been able to attend a Pagan college where my own religion was considered the norm. But the low numbers of Pagans aside, what kind of a college would it be if everyone was Pagan? What does it do to your science programs when you can’t hire the best physicist available because she’s a Methodist and you require your faculty to be Pagan? What kind of a humanities program could you have if you exclude people with an atheistic outlook?

What happens when you exclude Methodist and atheist1 students from a Pagan college? You end up with a narrower college experience for your students.

What happens when you exclude Pagan and LGBTQ students from a Baptist or Mormon college? You end up with a narrower college experience for your students.

College is for education

Particularly in political circles, there is the idea that higher education is primarily (some argue only) about preparing young people for future employment. This is a bad idea. Higher education isn’t supposed to be job training. It’s supposed to be education that gives people context for life and helps them develop the wisdom to think for themselves and to participate in society and its governance. My undergraduate degree is in engineering, but I took classes in literature, history, psychology, and philosophy. Yes, I wanted to prepare for a career, but I also wanted to be educated. That education continues to this day, but it got a good foundation in college.

And not all of that education took place in the classroom. I learned from my fellow students, especially the international students from Asia, South America, and the Middle East. I was rather irreligious in college (I enjoyed getting away from having to go to fundamentalist services every week) but I learned something from Catholics, Muslims, and progressive Christians… and probably some atheists who didn’t feel safe calling themselves such in Tennessee in the early 1980s.

A single-religion college or university simply cannot provide the total experience that a religiously inclusive institution can provide.

Maybe that’s OK. Maybe the “distinctives” that a religiously focused school provides makes it the best place for a certain subset of students, those whose religious orientation and commitment require a safe space to nurture and grow (and I mean no slight by that – safe spaces are good and necessary things).

But they aren’t the same things.

Religious restrictions or secular inclusiveness?

An educational institution cannot have it both ways. Either their primary interest is religious instruction and fidelity to their tradition, or their primary interest is promoting learning and the expansion of knowledge. Trying to be both satisfies no one.

Big religiously affiliated schools like Baylor and BYU are trying to have it both ways. They’ve expanded their student bodies and their faculties, and then traditionalists get upset when those who are LGBTQ (or just women – old fashioned sex discrimination is alive and well at some of these schools) expect to be treated as equals. They spend millions on Division I sports programs and then get upset when secular schools don’t want to compete against schools with discriminatory rules.

It’s easy to say that those who don’t want the religious aspects of a religiously affiliated school should just go somewhere else. But the schools market themselves as first-class academic universities, not as religiously restrictive universities. Students make decisions based on location, costs and scholarships, and academic programs. Plus the college years are times of learning, growth, experimentation, and self-discovery – someone who’s a good fit for a religiously restrictive institution as an 18 year old may be completely out of place by the time they’re 20.

Trying to have it both ways isn’t working

Christian schools who try to have it both ways should re-read Matthew 6:24 and contemplate all its possible applications.

Either declare that their primary mission is religious instruction and development, or declare that their primary mission is the advancement of knowledge. Either restrict their students and faculty to those who really want a religious life, or accept everyone for who they are.

I want these schools to be who and what they are, but it is necessary for them to clearly state who and what they are.

Because what they’re doing now is sending mixed messages and generating unhealthy conflict, and that conflict is only going to increase.

1 Yes, there are atheist Pagans. But they’re religious non-theists, not non-religious or anti-theists.

Previous Post

September 25, 2022

Building a Relationship with the Nature Spirits Where You Are

Next Post

October 2, 2022 A Pagan Response to Christian Nationalism

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Books Community CUUPS Druidry Foundations and Context Gods and Goddesses Magic Myth Nature Ritual Spiritual Practice Theology Travel Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

According to 1 Peter, Jesus bore our sins in his body where?

Select your answer to see how you score.

In the tomb On the mountain In the garden On the tree (cross)