Guest Column in Mast, Febrary 19,1993, by Glenn
Van Wyhe
(paragraphs were divided up more in newspaper version)
"This is not a Christian college." That was what Phil Nordquist told the PLU faculty last Friday, and they applauded him.
That was the central issue in the faculty vote on the revised mission statement. Was PLU "Christian," i.e., committed to Christ? The commitment to Jesus in the old mission statement was what made it seem to many as "out of date" and in need of replacement. The committee formed to rewrite the mission statement eliminated even the name of Christ from its first draft. Of three forums on the revision, two were completely dominated by the issue of whether PLU should avoid any commitment to Jesus. That issue generated ten times as much comment to the committee as any other, according to Nordquist. A four-page paper was distributed to all faculty, administrators, and staff last month; it argued that commitment to Jesus was right, necessary, and practical for PLU. All the faculty knew that commitment to Christ was the central issue.
The committee brought to the well-attended faculty meeting a revised mission statement which contained not even a hint of commitment to Jesus Christ (it had a gratuitous mention of Jesus as one confessed by the Church--but not by PLU). Other than Nordquist's speech, there was no debate on the issue (and no amendments were allowed, due to a suspension of the rules). The faculty voted so overwhelmingly in favor of the revision that I was left speechless. Not one person voted against the revision, and the faculty again burst out in applause and in smiles.
Those are the bare facts, but what do they mean? They mean exactly what Nordquist said. "This is not a Christian college." Even if the Regents rejected the revision, nearly all the faculty were eager to vote for something that is deliberately devoid of any commitment to Christ. Surely that means that those faculty do not display any commitment to Christ in their classrooms, and are offended by the suggestion that they should. Indeed, I have heard Christian students tell me how their faith has been intolerantly attacked (not "challenged" in some friendly fashion) in PLU classrooms, and students, as a result of the influence of respected professors, have left PLU without the faith they came with.
If PLU has no commitment to Jesus, it is better that the mission statement not suggest that it does. I wish that everything which might mislead anyone into thinking PLU is Christian were also eliminated, for the safety of those who might be misled. Since PLU has no commitment to Christ, there should be no Christian chapel or chaplains or required courses in Christianity. There should be no "Lutheran" in its name, no stone by the administration building saying that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and no opening of the year "in Christ's Name." The presence of these trappings of Christianity could easily deceive people into supposing there were some sort of commitment to Christ here--and there very certainly is not.
I do not think that PLU will attempt to be consistent in order to avoid misleading people. As Nordquist said, PLU, though not a Christian college, will continue to "work together with the Church." That must mean that PLU will, for its own purposes, tolerate the presence of the Church on campus. But it will certainly not share with the Church its central commitment to Christ.
PLU is not a Christian college. That fact the faculty proudly announced last Friday. So be it. Let it be announced far and wide. Let it be known among all young people who desire to have a Christian education based on the truth found in Christ that they will not find it here. Let it be known among all parents who yearn for their children to be strengthened in their commitment to Christ that it will not happen here--except perhaps in the same ways it might at any state school. Let it be known among faculty and staff who are willing to accept sacrifices in order to minister in a Christian institution that this is not a Christian institution. Let it be known among those who wish to support Christian organizations with their tithes and gifts that PLU is not a Christian organization. It deliberately refuses to make any commitment to Christ.
Let no one be deceived.