Christian Course Credits Worth Nothing

It appears that the University of California can ignore the credits of some Christian courses that students are presenting with.

Like most countries, the USA has a scoring system. The better you do in your exams, the more points you have to get into University. The University of California has managed to win the constitutional right to ignore high-school work grounded in the idea that the Bible is infallible.

This means that some courses based on the book United States History for Christian Schools published by the University of Bob Jones. This is a Fundamental Christian University with a long history of stating that the Bible is infallible

According to the Judge, it’s because the outcome of this course is that it:

“…instructs that the Bible is the unerring source for analysis of historical events, attributes historical events to divine providence rather than analyzing human action, evaluates historical figures and their contributions based on their religious motivations or lack thereof and contains inadequate treatment of several major ethnic groups, women, and non-Christian religious groups.”

This is why the courses are not being allowed to be used as credits for the U. C. It’s not that the courses are fundamentally Christian, nor that they teach Christian doctrine, but that they exclusively teach Christian doctrine to the detriment of the persons analytical education.

This seems to be a danger with the Fundamental Christian approach. The “young-earth” ideals fly in the face of what Science appears to be able to prove, as well as attributing actions to divine intervention where other explanations are available.

As a Christian, I’m well versed in the idea that sometimes coincidences happen far too often to be coincidences, and I can understand how a theoretical course on the idea that some parts of history could be attributed to divine inspiration would be interested. However, for the course to hold any value for me, it would have to be shown what the alternatives are, what the things leading up to it are, and what, on balance, was the likely cause.

Religious education needs to be sprinkled with a healthy dose of common sense. Courses that ignore this, and as in this case appear to stunt critical thinking fails to produce theologians, that is, people who are willing to think critically about Theology, and help advance both their understanding, and others understanding of their faith.

To study and try to understand the word of what ever religion you subscribe too is a must. Some of them ask very… strange and bizzare things of it’s followers. These things should not be entered into lightly, and very occasionally a critical examination of the texts may point to flaws in this idea, or perhaps what appears to be a misinterpretation.

It is this blind acceptance that the University of California has riled against. It doesn’t show that the student in question is able to think critically about a subject, which is required for most accredited degrees in the USA. I think their stance is a step in the right direction.

~Black Xanthus

Orginal Source: The Register