Campus Ministry Job Security Update

For any of you in Campus Ministry, fear not for diversity rests on your shoulders.

This study shows again today why Campus Ministry is needed on most campuses:

"By their own description, 72 percent of those teaching at American universities and colleges are liberal and 15 percent are conservative, says the study being published this week."

In general, my experience on campus has taught me that liberal is a synonym for secular in the vast majority of cases.

"Religious services take a back seat for many faculty members, with 51 percent saying they rarely or never attend church or synagogue and 31 percent calling themselves regular churchgoers."

So two thirds of those with grading power over your academic career are by their own admission out of step with those who regularly observe religious services. In my experience religious views are treated with ridicule and dismissal by those in power on college campuses. Yet the monolithic cloud of secularism that dominates campus life gives rise to weakness in the the arguments against religious belief. Apparently the views of those in power on campus are dismissed by many students:

"It's hard to see that these liberal views cut very deeply into the education of students. In fact, a number of studies show the core values that students bring into the university are not very much altered by being in college."

This is true and not true. Many students retain a religious perspective but become ashamed to admit it in public, fearing ridicule and marginalization which they experienced on campus. Some reject their faith outright under such pressure but others subvert it in shame. It is difficult to maintain a vibrant faith that is hidden.

Yet because students are attracted to the subversive, campus ministry remains strong. Christianity is the subversive ideology on today's campuses in the face of the dominant secular overlords. It is an honor to be a representative of real diversity in an otherwise monochrome world of ideas.

Of course I will soon be on campus in the Northeast:

"The researchers say that liberals, men and non-regular churchgoers are more likely to be teaching at top schools, while conservatives, women and more religious faculty are more likely to be relegated to lower-tier colleges and universities."

It will be an honor to bring diversity to some of the top campuses in the country in and around the Boston area.