That good 'ole Baylor financial line

Conflicts in Christian education are, like it or not, important to religious parents

If you ask the computer software gods, the most important post I have written as part of the Rational Sheep project (in terms of clicks) ran under this headline: “Exploring the ongoing Wheaton College wars.”

I had no idea that a post on debates about the future of Christian higher education, centering on the alma mater of evangelist Billy Graham, would be popular on a website about faith, family and the digital age. However, if you think about it, parents striving to be be countercultural on important issues — such as the role of digital screens in their homes — will need solid education options throughout the lives of their children.

Don’t take my word on this. Readers may recall that Jonathan “The Anxious Generation” Haidt noted, in an interview last fall, that Orthodox Jewish educators are the religious leaders most willing to work with him.

This is logical. By definition, Orthodox Jews know that they are frequently going to clash with the dominant culture. Why? Because the ancient traditions of their faith truly shape their beliefs and actions on many basic issues in daily life — from where they live to the food that they eat. Smartphones are simply another major challenge to their way of life.

Let’s return to the topic at the heart of this quick post — one directly linked to debates and even fights inside the world of Christian higher education. I wasn’t planning on posting during this July 4 holiday weekend, but something flared up online that I thought Rational Sheep readers would want to know about.

The digital thread started, as these things often do, with an item deep in the tsunami of information found day after day in the Substack diary of Rod “Live Not By Lies” Dreher. This particular day’s edition ran under this headline: “John Vervaeke On Why Belief Isn't Enough.”

In a case study of trends in evangelicalism, Dreher noted:

Well. Baylor University, the flagship school of Texas Baptists, just accepted a $643,000 foundation grant to promote LGBT normalization within the church. From the university’s press release:

“The Center for Church and Community Impact (C3I) has been awarded a $643,401 grant from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation to foster inclusion and belonging in the church. Through academic research, this grant will help us better understand the disenfranchisement and exclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals and women within congregations to nurture institutional courage and foster change.

“We are always so grateful for the support and encouragement of the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation for our ongoing research in assisting congregations in ministering to marginalized populations,” said Dr. Gaynor Yancey, C3I director and the Lake Family Foundation Endowed Chair in Congregational and Community Health. “For several years, they have assisted us with funding for research to study the inclusionary practices of congregations with people who are marginalized in numerous ways.”

This won’t surprise people who have been watching Baylor’s leftward drift for years. But it should still be noted. I mentioned in this space recently a time I visited a Catholic university, and heard from a faculty member that the university presents itself to parents of potential students as a place where they can send their kids to get a solid Catholic education. In fact, he said (and shared many examples), the university actually works to sever any connection students might have to normative Catholicism, and to turn them into pro-LGBT progressives. His point was clear: they are scamming trusting parents, who would never consider sending their kids there if they knew that the kids were likely to be deconverted.

Reason No. 21,625 why You Cannot Trust Institutions Today.

In response, I left a short post in Dreher’s comments pages. That note led to a flurry of activity.

In a way, this is a commentary on the large audience that follows Dreher’s work day after day. I frequently get more responses from comments that I leave on that Substack than I do with my articles here at Rational Sheep. I also know that a high percentage of the loyal readers for this project learn about it through Dreher’s endorsement page. I am very thankful for that link!

Anyway, I addressed Dreher’s point about Baylor — I have two degrees from Jerusalem on the Brazos — with this:

A wise Catholic educator told me, several decades ago: There are only two issues today in Christian higher education.

(1) Will your school openly oppose the Sexual Revolution and defend the moral worldview of the early church?

(2) Do most of the faculty see, as their primary educational goal, the liberation of students from the beliefs of their parents and home congregations?

A practical observation: The more a school's fundraising and recruiting materials show students with their hands in the air during chapel, singing praise choruses, the more you should worry about the educational reality on the ground.

If readers want to know more about the Baylor grant, see this news report at MSN.com (“Baylor Secures Major Grant to Study LGBTQIA+ and Faith-Based Belonging”) or this one at PinkNews (“Baylor University receives $643,000 grant to study and foster LGBTQ+ inclusion”).

Several people wanted to know more about the Catholic educator that I was quoting.