Mullet 1
John Mullet
Comp. English 1
Mr. Harrell
8 October, 2013
Analytical Essay
Religion in school, a widely debated topic today, is addressed in Kevin Roose’s
book The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University. The
issue of religion in the classroom is really dependent on what kind of school is being
discussed. In public, government funded school systems; religion is kept separate from
the learning process and out of the classroom as to keep the large diversity of students
on equal ground. Many universities are the same way, such as Brown in the book.
These types of schools are known as secular schools. If a school is privately funded
they can push whatever beliefs they want in their classrooms. They aren’t regulated as
closely and have looser guidelines than public schools. Sure they have to be able to
meet curriculum standards, but their education can push whatever teachings they want.
This leads to the question of whether or not education in a religious school is as valid as
an education in a secular school. The quality of education in specific classes at Liberty
can be very much affected by the content of its teachings, as they may have differing
viewpoints on certain subjects than secular educational systems.
Secular college today teaches material that is often accepted as fact by the
modern world. Information is presented in a more open minded and fair way in most
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subjects. General education through a secular college allows anyone to think in the way
they want, and nothing is quite forced upon them. Information is presented and the
student can do whatever they would like with that information and believe what they
want, without someone trying to push a certain belief on them. This allows for the
student to do whatever they would like after college in their careers without the validity
of their education or motives having to be questioned.
Throughout the text, Liberty is described by Roose in the classroom and outside
of it. The type of education received in a class at Liberty is very different than a secular
education received elsewhere. General education in Liberty is nowhere near what it is in
a secular college. Roose explains “GNED, I learn, is short for general education, so
named because it’s Liberty’s foundational course in Christian ethics (31)”. Unlike
secular schools, Liberty’s core curriculum isn’t your Basic English, Biology and what not.
Liberty’s core curriculum consists of Christian ethics, a topic that usually isn’t offered
and certainly not mandatory for secular schools. Roose also says “From what I can tell,
GNED seems to be about half western philosophy, half Christian reactionary training
(31)”. This seems to be starting students out with the particular mindset that the faculty
of Liberty will be reiterating time and time again throughout the whole educational
experience at Liberty. Roose writes what his Contemporary Issues teacher has to say
on the topic, “‘We’ll be learning moral philosophies such as nihilism, relativism, and
utilitarianism,’ Dr. Parks says, ‘But mostly as oppositional research (32).” This illustrates
that the core curriculum at Liberty is an effort to equip the students to combat the
secular world and it’s, according to Liberty, “flawed ethics” while still learning them. The
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problem when the other moral philosophies used in the world are taught, they are taught
in a negatively biased way, not giving the information in a fair way.
The second course Roose attends is the “History of Life” class. When Roose
goes through the Creationism class, he is disgusted by most of the material taught in
the curriculum, as it skews what he learned at secular Brown University, and probably
every other biology based class in any other school he attended. Obviously the
Christian viewpoint very much differs from the rest of secular education’s viewpoint on
the topic which spurs problems for Liberty’s biology and creationism teachings. This is
illustrated by the fact that one of Roose’s textbooks required for the class is known as
“The Answers Book and Refuting Evolution (91)” Roose states “In 1982 . . . A Virginia
state education board ruled that biology graduates from Liberty University . . . were
uncertifiable as public school teachers, since Liberty’s undergraduate biology program
was based in creational studies (33).” This shows how Liberty’s viewpoints differ so
much that a degree intended to be used to teach in a secular elementary school is void
because of the enormous difference between a secular and religious education. Since
the Christian viewpoint on evolution and creation is what the would be public school
biology teacher from Liberty is the only thing they were taught, then keeping religion out
of the classroom that they would be teaching is impossible. Roose then states, “Liberty
has since gotten teacher certification approval for its biology program . . . All Liberty
students are required to take a creation studies course, while only biology majors are
required to learn evolution based studies. And even those evolution courses are sort of
Fair and BalancedTM, if you get my drift (33).” Roose saying this infers that the evolution
classes are probably not taught in an unbiased way that a secular college would teach
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it, even though t\Liberty is technically teaching it. That brings up the question of whether
or not the biology graduates of Liberty University should actually be certifiable to teach a
secular school’s biology class just because Liberty found a loophole in the Virginia
boards policy.
Roose’s other classes also teach material that would never be covered in a
secular classroom. Evangelism 101 is another class that Roose attends as part of his
core curriculum studies at Liberty. Roose explains what the professor of the class
teaches about by giving examples of the titles of lecture topics. According to Roose
“‘Jesus the Centerpiece of Civilization’ and ‘God’s Words Bring Life’ (36)” are the topics
covered in the class. Unlike the skewed biology program a Liberty University, Roose
finds this class to be somewhat acceptable. If a class at a Christian college covers
Evangelism 101 that is the college’s choice. It doesn’t interfere with the students
learning as it does not try to refute topics that are observed by the secular world.
Evangelism 101 is teaching new things and mainly seems to be a study of the bible
rather than trying to change the minds of students and ingrain Liberty’s doctrine into
their head. Roose does state that he enjoys the class Evangelism 101 and that it is one
of his most enjoyable classes at Liberty. Third course seems useless as a course
unless you plan on majoring in, for example, seminar. This is the fact with a lot of the
core curriculum classes at Liberty.
Liberty University seems to be pushing certain agendas throughout most of its
classes. Roose picks up in this later in the book and states it in a three part list:
“Evolution didn’t happen . . . Abortion is murder . . . Absolute Truth exists (87).” Roose
has heard “several strains of anti-evolution jabs so far. One is when a professor points
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out that both creationism and evolution are based on faith – faith in god on the one hand
and faith that man evolved from pond scum with no divine help on the other (87).” This
is very close minded to completely write off any form of evolution when you are teaching
the subject of evolution and creationism. When looking at the “Abortion is Murder”
aspect I think that the idea is completely unacceptable to be pushing through a class, as
it is a personal choice by a person. Saying that it is murder or isn’t should be left up to
the person considering the abortion, not a professor teaching a professional class at a
university, whether it be Christian or secular. The last point is that “Absolute truth
exists”. Roose states, “At Liberty, unlike many secular schools, professors teach with
the view that there is one right answer to every question (87).” This shows that the
teachings at Liberty University are very close minded. At secular schools, answers to
questions are left up to the student. It’s not “here’s the one, true answer.” It’s “take the
information and make your own answer.
Liberty University has many differing teachings than other colleges, this leads to
the questioning of the validity of the academic material taught by it. When considering
where religion fits into the classroom, the answer is simple. As long as it is the student’s
choice to believe what they hear, religion can be incorporated into learning. A place of
higher learning that condones pushing religion through general education, major studies
that will lead to a career for a student, and finding loopholes in public policy for school
certifications, however, is not acceptable in today’s educational standards. Students
should be able to learn about a topic from an unbiased perspective, allowing them to
form their own truths and their own biases about that topic. An agenda should not be
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thrown at them from a university that thinks their truth is the only truth and that the rest
of the world has it all wrong.
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Works Cited
Roose, Kevin. The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinners Semester at Americas Holiest
University.
New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2009, print.