Is This Progress?

By Jim Faughn

    The New York Gazette contained some interesting information in its June 3, 1752 edition. The information was in an advertisement for an educational institution. Here is what this institution hoped would encourage students to enroll: The chief thing aimed at in this college is to teach and engage young people to know God in Jesus Christ, and to love and serve Him in all sobriety, godliness and righteous life, with a perfect heart, and a willing mind.
    The institution placing this ad was King’s College. It is now Columbia University.
    To say that Columbia University has travelled far from the stated aim of King’s college would be a huge understatement. It may be that God would be the last thing people of my generation and younger generations would think about in connection with this institution.  
    We might think of stories we’ve read or heard about concerning riots, drugs, protests, “sexual freedom,” and other things such as this. We would probably not think of Columbia as a good place for a young person to go to learn more about God, His Son, and how to love and serve Him.  
    When one traces the history of some of the oldest institutions of higher learning in our country, it will be discovered that a great many of them were founded to uphold, teach, and defend the Bible.  Sadly, most of them are now known for strong opposition to anything resembling Christian teaching and/or morality.
    Twenty-four years before some brave people declared their independence from England, educators were using whatever freedom they had for religion. Now, almost two-and-a-half centuries later, educators in most of those same institutions are telling us that we are to be free from religion. Is this progress?

 - Jim Faughn serves as an elder and preacher for the Central Church of Christ in Paducah KY.  He may be contacted through the congregation's website.