By Alan Goforth
March 7, 2003

(AgapePress) - Students attend a Christian school because they know they will receive a high-quality education that respects and affirms their faith. Or do they attend to engage a rigorous debate on the issues of the day to better understand their beliefs?

That is the crux of the recent tiff between William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, and a committee of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC), which helps fund the school.

Several students recently campaigned for a plank in the student bill of rights that would accept homosexual rights. That plank was later voted down. However, appearances by pro-homosexual speakers on campus and a February performance of an explicit play, The Vagina Monologues, have added fuel to the fire.

The MBC was concerned enough about these incidents that it decided to open an inquiry.

"I think you ought to stand up and say 'this is what we believe and what the Bible teaches'," said Kenny Qualls, president of the MBC. "I find nothing in Scripture where the opposite view of what God said is brought before the people."

College trustees, however, voted unanimously in February to affirm the mission statement of the 154-year-old school and its support for academic freedom.

"We stand firmly behind that mission statement," said Don Duncan, chairman of the board of trustees. "Jewell has a long and proud tradition of providing a strong academic environment that emphasizes vigorous liberal arts education and encourages the exploration of Christian values and spiritual growth."

The board asked Duncan and President David Sallee to meet with MBC leaders to discuss their concerns, but also voted unanimously not to respond to the committee's questions about personnel and the college's official teaching on the Genesis creation account.

"William Jewell College was founded upon, and continues to be devoted to, the model of education as exploration," Sallee said. "There are some who want us to adopt the model of indoctrination, simplifying truth to easily digestible nuggets and translating it into uniform action, both personal and corporate. We will not do that."

How are local Baptist pastors addressing this conflict? Many leading ministers prefer not to go on the record other than to say that it is not a high-priority issue in their congregations. Scott Harrision, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Lee's Summit, said it is rightly being handled by the students themselves.

"My take on it is that the students at William Jewell raised an issue, and they discussed it in a Christian setting and made their decision," he said. "My focus is on the fact that students should be allowed to raise these issues. Raising them within a Christian setting is a very healthy thing and very profitable."

Harrison has followed the issue closely in the college's student newspaper and has been impressed by the quality of the debate on both sides. Ultimately, he believes students will be stronger in their beliefs after critically examining the issues for themselves.

"An attempt to stifle discussion or debate is the antithesis of what higher education should be about," he said. "This was a student issue from start to finish."

However, Jeff Logsdon, pastor of South Kansas City Baptist Church, believes all Baptists have a right to know how their money is being spent.

"It's legitimate of us to talk about and debate it," he said. "The students may want to act a certain way or have certain activities, and that is fine. There are public schools that are funded differently where that is perfectly acceptable. But If Baptists are going to fund the school, they have a right to approve or disapprove of certain activities."

Harrison and Logsdon agree that Baptists should unite on the issues that unite rather than divide them. But they also agree that the situation at William Jewell is a symptom of a larger divide that may not go away any time soon. A meeting among Sallee, Duncan and the MBC is tentatively scheduled for March 13.

"If the school wants to press on," Logsdon said, "there may come a point at which Baptists rightly would say, 'Well, that's just not how we want to spend our money'."