When the faculty advisor asked Upshaw, who identifies as Black/biracial, to start publishing more conservative opinions, she felt sidelined. Readers, commenting online, branded the piece as “propaganda,” “racist and trash,” “riddled with unfounded assumption and presumption.” “Our faith, now synonymous with unwavering support for Donald Trump, is causing many to question how Christians could sell out women, immigrants, Black people, Indigenous people, people of color, the LGBTQ+ community and the poor for the sake of political power,” she wrote, concluding that “Gen Z sees the hypocrisy of Christians today. In praise of doubt: A meeting with young evangelicals leads a reporter to unexpected questions about faith and doubt. “We want their vocations and lives to be a reflection of their Christian faith and a longing for others to know the redeeming love of Jesus.”Ĭalifornia Behind the story: Living outside the guardrails of faith “Our students - whether they are screenwriters or accountants, policy wonks or research nerds - are Gospel witnesses,” Corey said. University President Barry Corey quotes Isaiah - to “rebuild the ancient ruins and … raise up the age-old foundations” - in arguing that Biola graduates are ready to make the necessary repairs. They sign a statement of faith during the application process, and each year faculty sign Articles of Faith pledging allegiance to the truth of Scripture as it articulates “God’s vision for humanity” and prescribes a course for living in this broken world. Today students can take classes in criminology, physics, accounting, gender studies and cinema. Evangelist Billy Graham helped with the $3-million fundraising drive.
In 1925 during the Scopes monkey trial, when a Tennessee jury convicted a high school teacher of introducing evolution to his classroom, its anti-science stance was ridiculed.īy the 1940s, Christians began turning toward evangelicalism, a less dogmatic version of the faith, and in that spirit, the Bible Institute of Los Angeles opened Biola College (later Biola University) in 1959.
Its two rooftop, neon-red JESUS SAVES signs were landmarks in the city’s skyline for decades.īut as fundamentalism spread, it was challenged. Their success led to the construction of an Italian Renaissance high-rise with twin 13-story dormitories for fledging theologians. Horton’s charisma, together with the money and zeal of Lyman Stewart, co-founder of Union Oil Co., helped spread fundamentalism around the world. “We believe in the old Bible and the whole Bible and have no confidence in anyone who seeks to unsettle this belief,” he said. When Texas preacher Thomas Horton took the stage before 4,200 congregants in downtown Los Angeles on Easter 1915, he made clear that the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, founded seven years earlier, stood for Scripture without error or misstatement. Either creation took six days, God flooded the world, Jesus performed miracles and the prophecies are true, or none of that ever happened - or ever will happen. More than 100 years ago, Charles Darwin forced Christians to an uncomfortable reckoning over the Bible. The tension, said Richard Flory, executive director of the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture, “helps us read what the future of evangelicalism in America might look like.” One of Southern California’s oldest religious colleges, Biola has seen its enrollment drop, has trimmed next year’s budget and is trying to stay relevant for students while not alienating faculty and alumni. “Evangelicals are losing their young in epidemic numbers,” said David Gushee, a nationally known pastor, ethicist and author of “After Evangelicalism: A Path to a New Christianity.” “Smart, young minds rarely color within the lines, and if they can’t ask questions and get decent answers, they will bail.”
They resent how politics has shadowed their relationship with God and believe that Christ’s lessons of humility, tolerance and love have been forgotten amid the Christian community’s embrace of the Big Lie, former President Trump and culture-war dog whistles such as LGBTQ restrictions and anti-mask and vaccination declarations. Like evangelical institutions across the country, the university is facing growing disillusionment among young Christians who believe their faith should be more progressive and socially minded. Reigning in Southern California, she has an English degree from Biola University and recently completed her first novel.Biola has attempted to shelter its students and itself from the social and civil disturbances of recent years, but its efforts have been marginally successful.
She is a Leo, loves long walks on the beach, roses, Beauty and the Beast stories, and her terrible chihuahua.
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