>I should like to relate my interaction with the biology department in our
>university. I wrote a letter to the editor disagreeing with an op-ed article
>on evolution. Per chance I spoke to a Christian professor in the biology
>department and while in the conversation asked him if he had read my letter.
>He said he had not read the letter in the newspaper but that my letter was
>posted on the bulletin board of the biology department and that they were
>getting ready to answer my letter. The reply to my letter came in the
>newspaper and was signed by 13 faculty members of the biology
>department---it seems that the other half of the department did not wish to
>sign the letter and my Christian friend did not sign the letter either. I
>suppose numbers count! There seems to be a division in biology departments
>on this issue but I do not see any Christian professors writing letters to
>the editor expounding their views. Is this brought about by scientific
>pressure? I do believe that tenure and promotions in most universities are
>based on certain intangibles as, for instance, your faith and how strongly
>you show it. I think Johnson is right! Let us face it university faculties
>are composed mostly of liberals and radicals. Where does a Christian fit in
>such a system?
I have attended secular private and state universities throughout my entire
student and academic career. My evangelical faith has always been
completely known to all the faculty. I have personal testamonies in the
acknowledgments of both my masters and Phd theses. I have been active in
Christian undergraduate, graduate, and faculty fellowships on campus at
each institution. Never have I experienced any negative response, nor felt
pressured to do or say anything contrary to my religious conviction. I am
presently the president of the university faculty Christian felloship group
with a mailing list of nearly 150. I give talks and write papers on issues
in theology and science and put them on my resume and departmental reports.
What I have encountered most commonly is students who see the university
are enemy terrritory and are too afraid to engage it. Furthermore, I have
seen that most Christian faculty are committed to involvement in their
church communities and do not see the university as a place to minister and
transform. If there is a problem it is entirely one of our own making!
Lets stop this "evil empire" talk of the university and get out there and
transform it.
Keith
Keith B. Miller
Department of Geology
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506
kbmill@ksu.ksu.edu
http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~kbmill/