Baylor Seeks More Christian Direction

Baylor is not only the oldest university in Texas, it is also the largest Baptist university in the world. Some feel, however, that it has lost its religious "soul" and would like to restore to it a fundamental Christian character. President Robert B. Sloan Jr. has created a plan called Vision 2012, an effort to restore "the school's historical Christian image while establishing an academic reputation of the first rank."

Mark Lisheron writes in the Austin-American Statesman:

Vision 2012 seeks to place Baylor at the forefront of Christian-based higher education. Sloan laments the separation of the spiritual and the academic that has occurred during the past generation at places such as Notre Dame, Boston College and Baylor. Under Vision 2012, Baylor is asking for something unique from its professors: a promise to incorporate Christian values into their teaching, Sloan said.

More disturbing, [Kent] Gilbreath said, is forcing faculty to pledge to incorporate their spiritual life into their teaching. Baylor always has attracted and hired faculty who affirm their Christianity, but it always was understood that it was part of their personal lives. "The president has been quoted as saying we want a certain kind of Christian," Gilbreath said. "The question is, which Christian values, whose Christian agenda? What role does Christianity play in teaching calculus? There is a discomfort with an autocratic approach to religion that is both unnecessary and unbiblical."

Just how will calculus teachers incorporate "Christian values" into their classes, and will that necessarily produce students of the highest caliber? Just whose "Christian values" will be used? Will Mormons and Christian Scientists be given the same freedom as Southern Baptists and Methodists?

Read More:

• Baptists
• Southern Baptists