Posted on 05/23/2005 12:18:31 AM PDT by Cincinna
Now a few affluent evangelicals are directing their attention and money at some of the tallest citadels of the secular elite: Ivy League universities. Three years ago a group of evangelical Ivy League alumni formed the Christian Union, an organization intended to "reclaim the Ivy League for Christ," according to its fund-raising materials, and to "shape the hearts and minds of many thousands who graduate from these schools and who become the elites in other American cultural institutions."
The Christian Union has bought and maintains new evangelical student centers at Brown, Princeton and Cornell, and has plans to establish a center on every Ivy League campus. In April, 450 students, alumni and supporters met in Princeton for an "Ivy League Congress on Faith and Action." A keynote speaker was Charles W. Colson, the born-again Watergate felon turned evangelical thinker.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Good luck to these folks!
Just read the whole piece. Amazingly un-insulting. The Times must be trying to diversify and reach out.
Thanks for posting this, I certainly didn't know that evangelicals were 25% of the population, I think Roman Catholics are another 20% or so. Gives one hope. The article also gives one hope for the young people of today.
Lots of people like the term "Liberal" Christianity to define anyone to the left of them, which includes a lot of true followers of Christ. I like the term Secular Christians, who are Christians in name only and deny the deity of Jesus, reject the Bible, and give aid and comfort to the enemy (moral relativism). Secular Christians are the followers of a dying church while all the rest are growing, both Protestant and Catholic.
Many of these ivy league schools were started and "still are" (at least on paper) as Christian schools...
Barna uses several methods. "Self-definers," who answer on a Census form, "Christian," "Moslem," "Jewish," "Hindu," etc. are 93%.
If you ask, "Do you attend church regularly?" the number drops to 50%.
If you ask, "Did you attend church LAST WEEK?" the number is about 25%.
Those who tithe in any denomination are an even smaller percentage.
I agree when you break the numbers down this way.
There's something big stirring below the surface if the NYT is now taking notice!
The lower-bound # of Christians yielded 125% of ALL federal, state, and local welfare $$; the upper-bound number was 225% of ALL federal, state, and local $$$.
For those who say private charity could not deal with poverty, I say BS: if Christians tithed, we could run all the churches AND handle all the "po."
You got it. It is really hard, too, some times when it's "pay this bill, or tithe." I know better, and even then, from time to time, am not faithful.
"Moreover, evangelical Christianity is the most rapidly growing faith in the United States"
If you actually read the entire article, you will see that the percentage of Evangelicals in the US population has remained constant, at a steady at 25% for decades. What has changed is the social class, with Evangelicals moving into the more highly educated and highly paid elite schools and professions. The links in the article have demographic statistics.
Most surveys use the following questions:
Religion....
If you state Christian, the follow-up question is "do you consider yourself an Evangelical or "born again " Christian?"
I agree that the NYTimes has regrouped.
This article is part of their series "class matters" exploring social class in America.
This is an excellent article, well researched and written, from an objective non-judgemental point of view.May be a first for the NYT, but kudos to them anyway.
I think they realize this is a very powerful phenomenon that has reached the halls of educational and financial power in America.
Great article!
Does anyone know if this group is on other campuses? Balance is surely needed.
As an alumna I have hesitated giving money to my school. Now I know just where to write that check.
Has anyone seen anything by David Horowitz on this topic? He is usually excellent on this type of academic issues.
Still too vague, as Barna shows. The real questions must deal with actual ACTIONS in a set time frame, like tithing, or church attendence over the past week/two weeks etc.
Are you doubting the NYTimes article stating that Evangelicals are a changing demographic, moving into the highly educated, high income earners with increased power in Ivy League institutions and the corridors of financial and political power?
What is your point?
The groups written about are Evangelicals, organizing in elite institutions like Wall Street and Ivy League Universities; raising tons of money and interest. What is your problem with this?
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