Free Republic

Few pay attention to the common agendas shared by Boko Haram (the terrorist group that has kidnapped over 200 Nigerian schoolgirls) and the non-profit organizations ran by the Obama family. The primary goals of both is to eradicate western education in Africa; the evidence is overwhelming. ... the foundation bearing the name of Barack’s grandmother – the Mama Sarah Obama Foundation (MSOF). In the interview, Musa confessed that the MSOF accepts western donations under faulty premises (helping orphaned children with AIDS) and then uses those funds for scholarships to send Kenyan students to extremist Wahhabist schools in Saudi Arabia. In...

What happened to so many once-Christian colleges in the United States? Two fine books describe the decline. George Marsden's 462-page The Soul of the American University shows how once-Protestant universities became secular look-alikes. James Burtchaell's The Dying of the Light: The Disengagement of Colleges and Universities from Their Christian Churches uses 868 pages to show not only how schools moved from liberal theism to secularism but how, before that, they moved from theologically conservative to liberal I'll try to give the high points of 1,330 pages in fewer than 1,330 words: Three central messages are (1) Follow the money, (2)...

Governor Sarah Palin gave a speech last week at Plumstead Christian School in Plumsteadville, PA that wasn’t highly publicized or talked about. I particularly enjoyed her plug for school choice and parental sovereignty in education. She also spoke about the important role that Christian schools play educating students about our nation’s founding, our Constitution’s foundation in Natural Law and American exceptionalism. Good stuff, I encourage you to watch the whole thing.

You've heard all about the disputes: "Silent Night" banned at the "holiday" program, artistic references to the Bible censored and faith-inclusive children's programs facing discrimination. Now some people are fed up with public school treatment of Christianity and have launched a campaign calling for a rescue of kids from government education programs – a "Call to Dunkirk."

Student, prof build budget supercomputer August 30 , 2007 When Tim Brom 07’ set out to build a budget supercomputer with Calvin computer science professor Joel Adams, he didn’t know the product of his efforts might end up in his checked baggage headed for England. Brom, now a graduate student at the University of Kentucky continuing his studies in computer science, worked with Adams to build Microwulf, a machine that is among the smallest and least expensive supercomputers on the planet. “It’s small enough to check on an airplane or fit next to a desk,” said Brom. This may prove...

The Colorado legislature has been considering bills that would loosen or lift the statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse lawsuits. Because the legislation was to apply only to private institutions—and was specifically designed to affect the Catholic schools, but not public schools—Catholic League president William Donohue e-mailed the entire legislature on February 1 asking that the bills blanket all institutions equally. Amendments that would do just that are now being considered. Donohue commented on the latest development today: “The whole nation is getting quite a lesson in the politics of child sexual abuse as it is being played out...

ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN HOME SCHOOL DIGEST (2005, VOLUME 15, NUMBER 5, 61-62) Why Not Bring Higher Education - All the Way Home? - BY JAMES BARTLETT Last night I was listening to a homeschooled young man defend his decision to attend a Christian college far from home. He essentially reasoned that to make a comfortable living he would need to gain an accredited degree and work at a major corporation for several years. Perhaps then he would use his knowledge and resources to consider a family business. Do you notice anything un-peculiar (Titus 2:14 ; 1 Peter 2:9) about the...

A case is set to begin in Birmingham federal court next month for a woman who is suing a Christian school that fired her after administrators learned she was unmarried and pregnant. Tesana Lewis filed suit against Covenant Classical School of Trace Crossings, saying she was unfairly fired. The school contends her unwed pregnancy went against the values and religious principles taught there. Lewis' suit says she was hired at the school on December 6, 2003, where she was to help teach 12- to 20-month- olds. She was fired four days later. Lawyers for the private religious school in Hoover...

With all the prizes handed out and after a few words from the principal, the end of term ceremony ends with a prayer. “Heavenly Father,” intones one of the governors of the King’s Academy in Middlesbrough, north-east England, “You are the foundation of all we do here.” Prayers are not unusual in British schools. Unlike many other European countries and the US, the UK does not seek to keep religion out of state education. Churches operate state schools, religious education is on the national curriculum and prayers are an optional feature of morning assembly. Yet the celebration of God at...

A Jewish Studies professor urges the destruction of the Jewish State. Baylor University’s Anti-Jewish Liberation "Theologian" By Steven PlautFrontPageMagazine.com | May 5, 2005Marc H. Ellis is university professor and director of the Center for American and Jewish Studies at Baylor University, a Baptist University in Waco, Texas, not ordinarily on anyone's radar map as a particularly notable institution when it comes to the field of Jewish scholarship.  Indeed, theologically Waco is best known for serving as home of the Branch Davidians and the abortive FBI raid on its headquarters.  Thus fringe "theologians" seem to feel right at home there.  Maybe...

The new face of Roman Catholic higher education looks like Sean McNally, who is majoring in European history and literature at tiny Ave Maria College here.Mr. McNally, 19, lives in Gabriel Hall, a residence for young men considering the priesthood. He regards himself as far more conservative than most of his elders. "I went to a Catholic high school where I had to defend my faith to my professors," he says. "My principal was a lesbian living with her partner, and the priest [at the school] was a lunatic." And that new face of Catholic colleges also looks like Arwen...

Not surprisingly, challenges to Christian education often come from secularists, who believe that requiring a statement of faith inhibits academic freedom and who cannot imagine a biology class that does not affirm the dogma of evolution. They have their reward. Challenges to Christian higher education also often come from Christians, and these are, for Christians, more weighty because they come clothed in the gospel. Many Christians sense that Christian scholarship is incompatible with the simplicity of the New Testament message and is a threat to the centrality of Christ and of faith. Why, it is asked, do we need philosophy...

A unique online course gives Christian students the opportunity to study the original intent of the Constitution and to compare and contrast that to decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court. The online course, called "Constitutional Law for Christian Students," is taught by Dr. Mike Farris, president of Patrick Henry College in Virginia. Farris says his aim is for students to understand both what America's founders intended and what he calls the current "mess" found in the nation's courts. Farris says regrettably few Americans today are well-versed in even the basics of the legal restrictions and guarantees provided in the U.S....

When Christian Educators Prefer Islam By Jen Shroder Due to the efforts of Christian Educators Association International (CEAI) and others, public school textbooks remain rife with Muslim indoctrination. When the textbook publisher, Houghton Mifflin (HM), came under fire last year with accusations of proselytizing Islam, Forrest Turpen, Executive Director of CEAI, publicly defended the textbook. TruthorFiction.com (link below) noted the “Christian group” and wrote, “Turpen says the teaching about Islam has not been "slipped" into the curriculum…In fact," says Turpen, "the state of California has been a leader in requiring a balance of teaching about who we are and...

During the colonial era of the 1700s, the most important battleground in America was in our churches. It was from the pulpits of Christian churches that faithful preachers of the gospel of Christ sought to ignite the glorious flame of God-given freedom and self-responsibility in the hearts and minds of Americans. And they applied the practice of this godly freedom and self-responsibility to the home, to the church, to business and society as a whole, and to the state. Without this continual educational effort by Christian preachers, which lasted for generations, there would have been no American Revolution, no history...