Outfitted With Placards and Prayer - Planting Political Seeds

Washington Post ^ | October 20, 2003 | Rosalind S. Helderman

[Cincinatus' Wife]

With November elections closing fast, the officers of the Patrick Henry College Republicans spent a recent meeting recruiting.

The Republican National Committee needed to ship students to Louisiana, Kentucky and Mississippi, where races were tight. A supervisor candidate in Loudoun County had offered to pay student volunteers. A state Senate candidate in Florida was desperately seeking help with online research.

Before they adjourned to consider the sign-up sheets, they ended the meeting at this new Virginia college as they end every meeting, heads bowed, taking turns praying aloud.

"Heavenly father, I hope you prepare the hearts and minds of the people we encounter so that we can be ministers for your word," said Leeann Walker, 20. "Even more than representing a campaign or an idea, we represent you."

The club members, who number 67 of a student body of 240, are exactly what home-schooling activist Michael Farris had in mind when he founded this school in 2000 in Purcellville, Va., a rural community within commuting distance of the nation's capital. They are hard-working, deeply religious and committed to transforming Washington.

...........Farris, who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor of Virginia in 1993, founded Patrick Henry College to help mold a vanguard of Christian leaders who will change the nation through their work in politics and culture.

He hopes to expand the undergraduate student body to 1,600 and launch a law school that will enroll 400. To attend, students must make a statement of faith, abide by a dress code and obey a curfew. They can major in government, history, classical liberal arts or literature -- and most are government majors.

Although the school has graduated just 21 students in two classes and its student body remains small, Farris said his students are having a disproportionately large impact on Washington. Two Patrick Henry students have worked in the White House. Another is serving with the coalition authority in Iraq.

[HateBill]

If Al Gore reads this article, he will immediately call his big bucks supporters, so that they can establish a "liberal university" to counter Patrick Henry University.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Ha! It looks like the wildfire of conservative activism is spreading.

[johnny7]

The author writes with a veiled disdain for the college and their recruiting efforts. You got your Christians and conservatives... that's bad mojo to loyal, socialist academians and the scribe knows it.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Yes, ain't it grand?

If it was a LIBERAL group, you'd be hearing about volunteers encouraging people to become involved in the politcal process.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Good news. I was surfing the TV and saw the tailend of a segment on Headline News regarding the proliferation of College Republicans. It said Democrats are lagging. It emphasized the growth of College Republicans of liberal college campuses.