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Interview shows public universities program students with anti-Christian bias
Published: 30 March 2017 (GMT+10)
The fact that an anti-Christian and anti-creationist bias exists among faculty at public universities— especially in science departments— has been well-known and well-documented for many years now. A new video report by the Alliance Defending Freedom has shown just how far that anti-Christian bias has now crept into the thinking of everyday college students on campus. When asked if they would support a law which forces Muslims to participate in activities on a professional level that go against their faith, students universally said no; but when the same question was posed with Christians instead of Muslims, they were unwilling to extend Christians the same rights!1
Once bias creeps in against the foundation of Christianity (Genesis), it does not simply remain there. The whole Christian faith is built upon the truth claims of Genesis; once it becomes fashionable and acceptable to discriminate against those who believe the foundation of Christianity (as it has been for the past century!), it is hopelessly naive to think that by simply compromising in that one area, that the remainder of Christianity will escape persecution. In another stunning example, a Christian student at a secular university in Florida was suspended after he spoke up in class to defend the Bible from attacks by a Muslim professor!2 Of course, it would also be naive to think that this anti-Christian discrimination is only occurring in American universities; the phenomenon is global. For example, a UK university was documented last year expelling a Christian post-grad student because they made a Facebook post on their own private page which cited the Bible in disagreeing with homosexual behaviour.3
The interviews show striking evidence that a new generation of young people are about to leave college and enter the public sphere who have no respect for the religious rights of Christians (but will respect other beliefs like Islam). This is the essence of ‘political correctness’: it is a thinly-veiled euphemism for an anti-Christian double standard. The goal is to eradicate Christianity from the public sphere and relegate it to the fringes of society. Keep in mind that this same progression has played out elsewhere in the past: namely, the anti-Jewish bias that eventually progressed to full-fledged genocide in Hitler’s Germany. Unsettlingly, it was also a devotion to a kind of evolutionary, survival-of-the-fittest ideology that motivated the Nazi purges.
If we Christians are smart enough to learn from the past, we will see that the persecution which is being gradually ratcheted up against our faith by centers of ‘learning’ and other institutions of political correctness will not be able to be contained if it is not opposed in its early stages. Once everyone in power is post-Christian and anti-Christian, who will protect Christian rights to life and liberty?
The culture war is very real, and we must all take an active part. The best way to stop discrimination against Christians is to convert those who are doing the discriminating! Be vocal about your faith and always be ready to make a defense. I have written previously about some ways to engage your friends and family on these issues. Keeping worldviews at the forefront of your discussions with unbelievers is a powerful way to ‘take the roof off’ and help people see the insufficiency of unbelieving worldviews and their need for a Savior.
In the previously-mentioned interview video, the interviewer seems to be taking a page from the presuppositionalist playbook, so to speak, because he is asking questions in such a way as to cause people to critically examine their own beliefs. This is a key take-home point: you often do not need to bash someone over the head with the truth to get them to see it! It is enough to simply ask questions and allow a person’s own responses speak for themselves. By asking the questions he did in the order he did, the interviewer was easily able to expose the inconsistency in granting rights to Muslims but denying those same rights to Christians— resulting in quite a few puzzled, confused faces! That is not a bad thing, though, as it signals the fact that the students, at least on some level, understood that they were being inconsistent.
In today’s largely self-centered culture, asking people to tell you what they believe or think, rather than telling them directly what they should believe, is a much more winsome and effective strategy.
Related Articles
Further Reading
References and notes
- Hudson, J. WATCH: Students Support Religious Freedom for Muslims, Not Christians, breitbart.com, 12 March 2017. Return to text.
- Walsh, M. Christian Student Challenges Muslim Prof’s Claim Jesus Wasn’t Crucified, Then Gets Suspended, redstate.com, 27 March 2017. Return to text.
- UK university expels Christian postgrad student over Facebook anti-gay marriage post – media, rt.com, 29 February 2016. Return to text.
“Once everyone in power is post-Christian and anti-Christian, who will protect Christian rights to life and liberty?”
Good question. Answer: Jesus will. Matthew 16:18 quotes Him saying He will do this.
Lets acknowledge God in this legitimate concern expressed here. There is a struggle of light and dark, love and hate, and if we are to be on the winning side, we need to ask for God’s help, or we will fail, however, God will not fail.
Can we be disobedient to God in the process? As the lessons of the Old Testament clearly show us, we will not have His power on our side, and we will be beaten if we are disobedient.
Jesus’ last words spoken before He left the earth were recorded in Mark 16:15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature…”. Matthew says that we are to make disciples, but how can we do this if they are not saved first? That’s casting our pearls to the wrong audience.
Romans tells us that ‘the Gospel is the Power of God unto salvation’.
Do we know what the gospel is, so that we can preach it and be obedient to God and enjoy the victory that comes with obedience to God?
If the word ‘Gospel’ is an originally Greek word meaning ‘good news’, can what we preach be considered good news, or could it be considered ‘Judgement’?
Romans 1 covers a list of sins and Romans 2:1 says right after the list that “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.”
The question we need to ask ourselves is “Are we preaching the Gospel or preaching Judgement?”, and the next question is “Are we being obedient to God?”.
Dear Mr Price,
I am not convinced that the Sheffield University tabloid story is an example of anti-christian bias in a public university.
Social work is a registered profession.
The student commented on the Facebook link quoting a bible verse from Leviticus calling homosexuality an "abomination".
Below is an introduction to the Health and Care Professions Council’s standards to deliver public protection:
*'When we say that someone is ‘fit to practise’ we mean that they have the skills, knowledge and character to practise their profession safely and effectively. However, fitness to practise is not just about professional performance. It also includes acts by a registrant which may have an impact on public protection or confidence in the profession or the regulatory process. This may include matters not directly related to professional practice.
...
Mr. Cross,
Based on what you've written, it does not appear that you are quite aware of what anti-Christian bias actually is. If you cannot quote from the Bible on your own private Facebook page without it having adverse consequences on your career, then clearly you are not living in a society that practices freedom of religion!
Calling homosexuality an abomination is not 'hate speech', it is simply agreeing with God's assessment given in Scripture. In today's climate, do you think for a minute that that student would have been deemed unfit to practice had he quoted something from the Koran on the same subject? Did you know that the Koran also refers to homosexuality as an abomination in Surah 7:80-84 (a borrowed reference to the Biblical story of Sodom)?
Everything you say in this article is true and cannot be denied. It also reveals the success that Satan has had in undermining Biblical Christianity and despite how horrified and vulnerable we feel when we reflect on Britain's history, there are certain things we need to remember. Biblical Christianity has central to British culture and way of life until the 20th Century. The bulk of the population rejected the the theory of Evolution until Britons accepted the television as their window on the world; life speeded up and they allowed their own conscience to be hardened to the things of God. We Christians too bear a large amount of the blame because the creeping in of the Theory sapped their confidence in God and the idea of living by faith seemed as remote as Genesis in time. One of our sins is the fear of what other people think of us and fear of 'losing our friends' if they talk about Jesus; man's sin and God's plan of redemption. It is high time that we as God's people repent ourselves of our wicked hard-hearted unbelief and spent time on our knees before God and restore our relationship with Him. It is time again to re-examine the equipment He has given us and stop seeing ourselves as a victim. Satan is the god of this world's system but we need to refresh ourselves that we ARE SEATED WITH HIM IN HEAVENLY PLACES. In Christ we are far above all principality and might and are in a position to inflict a MASSIVE defeat of Satan and his works. If you believe the Bible then act on that belief! 1 John 4:4 tells us that the Greater One is in us; so don't accept the enemies bill of goods that we are powerless because it is not true. Let us rise up in Christ and act like spiritual warriors. Let God confirm His Word in our mouths!
I searched on the internet for the video on the reference, and it leads to another related issue, wedding cake. Apparently, there were a few instances in the US where Christian bakers were charged discrimination law because they were refusing to bake same sex wedding cake. After reading many of the comments, apparently now people equating sexual preference with sex discrimination to support the charge against this Christian baker. However, if we were to follow this same logic, then by law, state schools must accept paedophile teachers.
Clearly, this baker did not reject the customer based on that the customer was a male (or female), but because he was asked to make a cake for a "same sex wedding" which is against his belief.
When I read stories like this, I am even more convinced that, unless things change very soon, in less than 20 years, maybe as little as 10, Christianity will be at the absolute least heavily restricted and controlled by the government— if not completely outlawed— here in North America.
Hi CMI,
I'm pondering the possibility, if Islam and it's recognised mandate (death to the infidel!) is the main concern for people treading lightly on showing any deliberate negative bias toward it, for the fear of retribution, or is it just plain ignorance!
Christianity on the other hand poses no threat physically in reality, no retribution, however it's only an 'after life' threat which to the uninitiated seemingly, is benign (as God, allegedly doesn't exist)(mythology), or if he does, He's the 'All Loving God' anyway, and wouldn't condemn anyone to an eternal punishment anyway! sic.
Might it be the thought is, Christianity will make me accountable, if I accept it, so if I don't, I can plead ignorance!
Regards, Graeme.
I cannot claim to know the answer to that, but I really don't think that at its base, this pro-Islam political correctness that we see is based on fear of retribution. I think most people are still in the mindset of 'it could never happen to me!'. I think it's more of a case of them being anti-Christian in general and being happy to embrace any and all belief systems except the truth.
"[T]ry to avoid triggering crazy people in the future. Engaging doesn’t help; their belief-maintainence (sic) systems are broken in a deeper and more subtle way than you understand. The brighter they are, the more effectively they defend their primary delusional system. The roots of it are not accessible to reason – in the case of religious nutters, they’ll even tell you that, it’s what they mean by ‘faith’."
This was posted by Open Source Initiative co-founder Eric Stephen Raymond (famous enough to have a rather long Wikipedia article) on his blog almost the exact same moment you guys posted this article, in the context of Christianity, not other religions.
It sounds like he is hitting upon some interesting truths with that statement about presuppositions (what he seems to be calling the 'roots of ... belief-maintenance systems'). What he apparently is not clear on, however, is that it is not just 'religious nutters' who behave this way, it's everyone.
Fortunately, though, people can be shown the problems with their unbiblical worldviews and presuppositions and be convinced to abandon them— at least those with any vestige of an open mind.
People simply do not have a foundation to believe this is good or this is bad. Homosexuality is one of these things where they feel it is acceptable (but when you think about it, you see that according to God or according to evolution, homosexuality make no sense). So people go according to this world's view... As it was pointed out in this article, this is also what happened with Hitler; German people had no longer a foundation to oppose this evil. So, if it looks good and in accordance with human rights, let them do so. As Christians, we can bless God that we have His foundation for we are no better or wiser than others.
Actually, this increasingly rabid intolerance for the Christian faith, as compared to the tolerance of, and even overt secular promotion of, non Christian religions, although disheartening, should encourage every Christian to praise God even more, since such CONFIRMS that we are of the ONE true faith. This growing and desperately wicked assault by Satan and the world, on Christianity, should encourage us, rather than fear the prophesied increasing persecution and murder of our people, since it continually confirms the Biblical truth that Jesus Christ gave His life for us, as He hung in darkness, between heaven and earth, while the sins of the whole world were poured out upon Him, so that whosoever believes on Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Such persecution confirms we are in the end times, and that our everlasting inheritance is of the ONE true God, in Jesus Christ.
Congratulations on an outstanding article that highlights the need for a new form of Christian outreach - pre-evangelism - necessitated by a rapidly developing anti-Christian culture that is metastasizing throughout our country and around much of the world. I fully agree that in order to break down the mental barriers of anti-Christian bias that is inculcated in our youth, one must make individuals aware of their own biases and distorted (anti-supernatural) world-view through a sort of a Socratic method of oral reasoning. I try to do that in my book, Final Departure: Death is never on time. Your article is the very essence of needed fact-finding and reporting that is very much needed in the Christian community today.
The fact that this article relies on disreputable sources like Breitbart, Red State, etc. negates any credibility and integrity this author seems to wish to claim. Sad.
I'm not sure on what basis you’re attempting to claim that my sources are 'disreputable'. The interview in question is publicly viewable on YouTube. Are you trying to deny that the interview really took place, or that it was somehow staged? Or that that the other incidents of anti-Christian discrimination I alluded to were also part of a conspiracy? It sounds like you've got a political axe to grind, and my article is not political in nature. The solution to the problem Christians are facing today is spiritual and it involves a grassroots effort by everyday Christians to be good representatives and winsome apologists.
This article suggests, "In today’s largely self-centered culture, asking people to tell you what they believe or think, rather than telling them directly what they should believe, is a much more winsome and effective strategy." Winsome indeed, but what will we win them to? The trouble is that preaching the gospel consists of telling people directly what they should believe: "Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech ... by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God."
"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent" - God's command is that you MUST change what you believe!
If we can no longer tell the truth plainly, then we have nothing to say.
You're misinterpreting what I wrote. My comments were made in light not of evangelism but of 'pre-evangelism'.
In the modern culture people (generally speaking) are no longer ready to hear a simple message of "repent and believe" without first being shown that their unbiblical worldview is insufficient and incorrect. I see you quoted from Paul's speech on Mars Hill— that's great! But did you not read the verses that came before the one you quoted? See Acts 17:22-29! Paul first addresses their faulty worldview before giving them the Gospel. That's pre-evangelism.
Asking people questions can help reveal their worldview— both to you and to themselves. That's extremely helpful when doing pre-evangelism. I do not suggest you approach a modern secular person who does not have a biblical worldview and just jump straight into commanding them to repent and believe that Jesus died for their sins. The message is not likely to connect and you’ll probably just alienate them.
For more on this, I suggest checking out my article on practical evangelism.
I would love to see the interview you are referencing. Can you provide a link?
Our website has a policy against linking directly to other websites from our articles; however, if you'll check the reference/footnote section at the bottom, you'll find that I've fully referenced the interview there. Simply copy and paste that into a search engine and it should take you right to it.
The 1st step in avoiding a trap is recognising its existence.
Earlier this year, Dr Tony Costa (Canadian) spoke about the roots of the deconstruction movement in the ‘The West’. Costa gave a talk (published on 13th Jan 2017) called ‘The Impact of Relativism, Postmodernism, and Cultural Marxism’. [link deleted per feedback rules]
About 20 minutes into the talk. He explained what ‘Cultural Marxism’ is, the instigators of ‘Cultural Marxism’ & why it is being foisted upon the West, in particular, academia, politics & the media including Hollywood. Andrew Breitbart has also tried to lift the lid to expose this evil ‘beast’. The Marxist idea was that Christianity hindered progress & needed to be destroyed, but ‘Economic Marxism’ failed, so another strategy was sought, enter the likes of Lukács (Hungarian Marxist) & Marcuse (German). In 1923 they & others, instituted a ‘think tank’ in Germany called ‘The Institute for Social Research’ aka ‘the Frankfurt School’. They correctly recognised the role of Christianity’s influence on the success of Western civilization & devised strategies to destroy the source of this success by attacking the values of Christianity, e.g. the family unit, monogamy, sanctity of Human Life, individualism, democracy etc.
I'll just note that as Christians, we must be careful not to fall into the false conception that we are at war with certain human factions (like particular camps of Marxists, for example) when in reality all of these human factions with anti-Christian agendas are merely representatives of our true enemies, which are in the supernatural realm.
(Ephesians 6:12)
Thanks for promoting these gems:
"asking questions in such a way as to cause people to critically examine their own beliefs."
"allow a person’s own responses speak for themselves."
"...asking people to tell you what they believe or think, rather than telling them directly what they should believe, is a much more winsome and effective strategy."
I recently came across another example of the disparity in society between the acceptance of Christianity and the acceptance of Islam.
A young man who works for us told me about his experience a few years ago in a British intermediate school. One student in this class was a devout Muslim. During Ramadan, Muslims are expected to pray at specific times of the day, no matter where they are. One of these times happened to occur in the middle of their maths lesson.
At this time, the remainder of the class was required to move their desks to one side to make a space, and then leave the room. The Muslim student then spread out his prayer mat and facing east, prayed. After this, the class returned to the room and the lesson continued.
Certainly this illustrates the extraordinary charity that's out there (in what has traditionally been a Christian country) in making room for Islam.
"What he apparently is not clear on, however, is that it is not just 'religious nutters' who behave this way, it's everyone."
Especially him, lol! Awesome reply, thanks!