Firing college staff for not being quite fundamentalist enough seems to be becoming something of an epidemic in the US. I was sorry to hear that Michael Pahl, like me an alumnus of Birmingham, blessed with Mark Goodacre’s supervision, is the latest to feel the fundamentalist wrath and be dismissed from his post.
Looking at the doctrinal statement of his “University” (it really is a different world, eh?) I found myself pondering how any institution with such a statement can actually call itself a university.
For me the core of the problem (leaving aside my disagreements with the doctrinal stance) is epitomised by clause 4:
We believe in the literal 6-day account of creation, that the creation of man lies in the special, immediate, and formative acts of God and not from previously existing forms of life
This moves from a believing or philosophical commitment (however arguable) to a blanket refusal to admit the validity of another discipline, a rejection of the rigorous examination of empirical evidence, and a denial that a literary work can be subject to any form of literary criticism.
Is it possible, in the light of such an inability to recognise either the integrity of the arts or the sciences, for such a narrow-minded institution to call itself a university? I don’t think so.
Yes, it must be a ‘different world.’ I thought as much after reading Peter Enns’ ‘Inspiration and Incarnation’ and wondering how such a moderate book could stir up so much controversy and lose him his job.
There must be many who are now saying one thing and thinking another and calling the lie faith.
Pingback: Around the Blogosphere: The Varieties of Fundamentalisms
Secularists just do not get it. Christians are to teach the Bible not alternative theories. They also accept the Bible as true, if they do not and accept alternatives then they have nothing to teach.
Your complaintis basically an attempt to get Christian institutions to disobey and disbelieve God and it is you who are wrong, not those institutions who stand with God and Hisword.
There you go, confusing 19th century fundamentalist tradition with the word of God.
And next time, if you want a comment posted instead of being thought a troll, give a real name.
Pingback: A few good links | eChurch Blog
Isn’t the idea that universities may not be created by churches a bit strange, tho, considering the origins of universities in medieval clergy training halls in Oxford, Cambridge and Paris? How else did every modern university come into being.
And if you take a post at a university which exists for the purpose of a particular creed, secular or religious, and you subsequently decide that you aren’t in sympathy with it, you must resign. To do otherwise is dishonest.
To complain that a university sacks people who no longer share its ethos and won’t resign seems odd to me.
Unless we are saying that what people believe and teach does not matter? And I can’t think of even a secular university that would hold that view.
Let’s hear it for integrity. Nobody forces anyone to go and teach at these places. If you don’t share their views, don’t take a post there. If you do share their views, take a post, and then decided that they are wrong, just resign. There’s no special principle here; it’s just about honesty.
Pingback: Troubling Statements 2 | theologyarchaeology