Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Christians at the Top of the Class

Some of the criticism that we as believers face, is that we are unintelligent. Dr. D. Michael Lindsay, professor of sociology at Rice University, has some interesting comments in this regard.

"Student enrollment at Christian colleges and universities has grown 60 percent since 1990, while the general college student population has barely changed. The percentage of evangelicals earning at least a college degree has increased by 133 percent, which is much more than any other religious tradition. As highly selective universities have sought to diversify their student bodies by race, gender, and ethnicity, they have also unintentionally diversified their campuses' religious makeup."

Rev. Peter Gomes, who has taught at Harvard for the last forty years, says, "There are probably more evangelicals (on Harvard's campus today) than at any time since the seventeenth century." A growing number of graduate students are also engaging their faith in various ways. One such program is The Harvey Fellows Program, sponsored by Dennis and Eileen Bakke, that have students enrolled in top academic programs like Yale Law School, Harvard Business School, and PhD programs around the country. These programs feature some of the the brightest individuals in the arts, humanities, law, medicine, business, and engineering.

Lindsay says, "Developments in recent years have enabled a growing number of faithful Christ followers to shed the cultural insularity of Christianity's recent past. If events of the last few years continue, outspoken Christians will come to occupy even more important roles within the intellectual mainstream."

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